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Chapter 7
Education
The importance of education is greater than ever in today's competitive, knowledge-based world. To help students cope with changing trends, the Government will implement a new academic structure that will enable students to develop their potential fully to meet the new challenges. The Government continues to provide additional resources for initiatives such as free senior secondary education and the new academic structure for senior secondary education and higher
education.
Key Achievements in 2008
The New Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education
The Government will introduce the New Academic Structure for Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education, or simply named '3-3-4' in September 2009. It covers three years of junior secondary education, three in senior secondary, and four at university. To help schools to prepare for the new academic structure, a new textbook list was provided to schools in August for their reference. The Education Bureau (EDB) has also published a curriculum and assessment guide on its 334 web bulletin. The Heads of Universities Committee issued a joint statement in October 2008 to give broad support to testimonials of students' other learning experiences and recognised learning profiles as documents of good reference value in their admission process. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) is making good progress in securing international recognition of the new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education.
Small Class Teaching
The Government has announced that schools implementing small class teaching will be allocated Primary 1 students on the basis of 25 students per class. The initiative takes effect in the 2009-10 school year for Primary 1 classes and will be extended to Primary 6 classes in the 2014-15 school year.
12-year Free Education
The Government extended free education in public sector schools from nine years to 12 years in the 2008-09 school year. This enables senior secondary students to benefit from the initiative which previously applied only to primary and junior secondary students. In addition, the Government subsidises fully the full-time courses