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of all his writing has been nil is due, we think, mainly to the fact that technical education below the University grade has been nobody's business.
78. The Technical School for which we now ask should be a constituent part of the Education Department and the Director of Education should be responsible to Government for it. The Principal of the Technical School would be not only respon- sible to the Director of Education for the institution but also his general advisor in all matters connected with the education of industrial workers potential workers as well as those actually engaged in some industry. The Principal will be responsible both for the Junior Technical School which will work for the normal school hours and for the classes for the further and technical training of apprentices, etc., which will be held in the evenings and other times during which the workers are free. If the Principal is to do his work properly he will have to keep in close and constant touch not only with the heads of engineering firms but also with those who are actually in charge of workshops such as the Managers of the Taikoo and Kowloon Docks and the heads of the leading architectural and constructional firms in the Colony. We regard it as essential that the Technical School should be a Government School and an integral part of the Education Department. We are opposed to any sort of duality either of responsibility or of control, but we think that an advisory committee of industrialists would probably be useful to the Director of Education and the Principal of the Technical School, especially in arranging accommodation for evening classes.
Committee.
79. For the Constitution of the Advisory Committee we suggest (1) the Director An of Education as Chairman; (2) a representative of the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Advisory Co; (3) a representative of the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Co; (4) a representa- tive architect; (5) a representative of the Chinese contractors; and (6) a representa- tive of the Engineers (Chinese) Institute, as members, with the Principal of the Technical School as Secretary and Member. All the members would be appointed by Government for a term of three years, a member being eligible for reappointment. We are informed that the Board of Education has the right of approaching Govern- ment on matters of detail and policy and that this right has reference to the whole field within the jurisdiction of the Director of Education. We think that the Advisory Committee of the Technical School should be represented on the Board of Education and we recommend that two technical representatives from the Committee should be appointed to the Board.
distinct
Institute.
80. We think that the Technical School should be, to start with, quite distinct The Technical from the Technical Institute, the activities of which should not be, at the outset at School to be any rate, curtailed in any way as a result of the Technical School being established, from the Later on, if the Technical School makes good, the transfer to it of the more technical Technical instruction which the Technical Institute is then handling should be considered. Such a transfer would seem to be theoretically a move in the right direction, but we feel strongly that there should be no attempt to effect this transfer until the Technical School has got a good footing. We are bound to suggest that the Technical School should be started on an experimental and temporary basis and this suggestion, if it be adopted, would make any interference with existing activities in the matter of further education impracticable. But apart from this consideration we think that it would be unwise to impose on the Principal of the Technical School on his first arrival, the responsibility for carrying on any existing activities in the matter of further education. Let him concentrate at first on his own particular problem the education of potential and actual industrial workers--and find his feet in that capacity.
and the
81. We would suggest that His Excellency the Governor might consider the The desirability of nominating the Principal of the Technical School to be a member of Frincipal the Court of the University. If this could be done the Council of the University might University. perhaps be prepared to consider the appointment of the Principal to be a member of the University Employment Committee, and possibly a member of the University Senate. The Principal would of course be quite apart from the University's teaching organization (though he might quite well be asked to give occasional lectures in the Engineering Faculty), in the same way as the Director of Education is, but he would probably be able to give valuable advice in connexion with the University's engineer- ing course, especially on the practical side. The Principal should be allowed reason- able access to the engineering works in which the ex-pupils of the Junior Technical School and the students of the Department for the further and technical education of