EDUCATION
138
provided. It recommended that the HKIEd be commissioned to run several kindergarten teacher training courses in the next four years. It has set up two working groups, one to develop a set of criteria for identifying the needs of schools and the community which teacher education activities should aim to meet, and the other to develop a framework for in-service professional development qualifications.
School Management Committees
Each school registered under the Education Ordinance has a management committee, which is responsible for the proper education of the pupils and operation of the school. One manager must be registered as the supervisor, whose main role is to be the point of contact between the management committee and the Education Department.
Each aided primary or secondary school is operated under a letter of agreement with a sponsoring body, which contributes the full cost of furnishing and equipping the premises, and nominates the first supervisor of the school. In the 1995–96 school year, a total of 1 048 aided schools were in the care of 398 sponsoring bodies, the largest of which operated 129 schools.
By September, 222 government and aided primary, secondary and special schools had joined the School Management Initiative (SMI) Scheme. This was started in 1991 to give government and aided schools more decision-making power and more flexibility in the use of resources, in return for more formal procedures for planning, implementing and evaluating their activities. During the year, the Advisory Committee on the SMI updated its manual on school administration and other reference materials, which were circulated to both SMI and non-SMI schools. A newsletter, the SMI Quarterly, was sent regularly to school heads and teachers to keep them informed of developments. The SMI Resource Centre was set up to provide professional support for the implementation of the scheme.
Governing Bodies of Tertiary Institutions
Each tertiary institution has its own structure of governance, set out in its ordinance. In all cases, that structure includes a governing body (called the court, the council or the board of governors), and a body to regulate academic affairs (called the senate or the academic board). Some institutions operate under three bodies: a governing body, an executive body and a body dealing with academic affairs. The Governor of Hong Kong is empowered by the ordinances to appoint the chairman of each governing body, as well as a prescribed number of members. This ensures a balanced distribution of members from the industrial, commercial and academic fields.
Funding of Education
Approved public spending on education in the 1995-96 financial year amounted to HK$34,000 million, representing 22 per cent of the government's total recurrent expenditure and six per cent of capital expenditure. Public funds cover about 94 per cent of the capital cost of an aided primary or secondary school and virtually the full cost of tertiary institution campuses, the entire recurrent cost of providing tuition from Primary 1 to Secondary 3, and about 90 per cent of the recurrent cost from Secondary 4 up to courses at degree level.
Non-profit-making kindergartens are eligible for rent and rates reimbursements, and financial assistance from the government under a new Kindergarten Subsidy