CHINA MAIL, PAGE 94
1841
HONG KONG CENTENARY. NUMBER.
Education..
(Continued from Page 58)
rector of Education to register all schools other than Government and Military schools and such others as the Governor-in-Council may direct. Thus the children in private schools both in Hong Kong and the New Territories now for the first time came under Govern - ment supervision The State re- gistration of schools had been dis- cussed at home for some time but this is the first occasion on which if received the sanction of the legislature in any part of th Empire
As a result of this ordinance a comprehensive census of schools and teachers in the New Terri- lonies was carried out in 1914, and change, in the Grant Code were introduced Upper classes of Eng Tish schools were encouraged by Grants to take the Matriculation and Junior Local Examinations of The Hong Kong University This encouragement. took the novel form of a Capitation Grant each pupil presented for these examinations whether he or she pussed or not This was done to prevent the cramming of promis- ing pupils
Expansion
for
During the war years (1914- 1918) a gradual expansion of the Educational system took place and 10 1918 the average attendance had risen to #.962 in English schools and 16,582 J}} Chinese schools. The Elis Kadoorie School, previously a Grant school, was in 1915 handed over to the Government and began its exis- tence as a District school from which boys passed to the upper school in Queen's College, and in 1916 a new Ellis Kadoorie School for Indians was opened by the Governor, Sir Henry May.
In 1917 H. E the Governor ap- pointed a Committee "to enquire into the teaching of the English language to Chinese boys in Gov- ernment schools and to enquire into the question of reducing the number of other subjects laught so as to enable more time to be devoted to such teaching." The re- port of the committee was pub- lished in August of that year and suggested among other things, sinaller classes in better buildings with better paid teachers. It also advocated medical inspection all pupils and a few small modi- fleations of the curriculum. It did not recommend any changes in the then existing arrangement for the teaching of English.
New Board
of
Early in the year 1920 a Board of Education, consisting of the Director of Education, Senior In- spector of English and Vernacular schools and nine members nomin- ated by Government, was estab- lished "for the purpose of assist- ing the Director of Education in * matters pertaining to the develop- ment and improvement of educa- tion in the Colony", and in 1923 ils powers were extended so as to enable members of the Board to visit, without notice, any Grant school when accompanied by the Director of Education.
The demand for a new school for British children, not. old. enough to attend the Central Bri- tish School (late Kowloon British School), was partially met by the, opening of a new school at Quarry Bay in 1926 and the same year, saw the district school at Salying- pun blossom out into King's Col- lege in Bonham Road. The new King's College is housed in a magnificent building and serves to relieve the pressure on Queen's College. Unfortunately the new school was taken over by the military authorities during 1927 so
that it did not begin its intended career until later in that year.
was
During 1927 a committee set up by the Board of Education. to consider the raising of school fees. Its report was finally ae- cepted by Government and slight increase in fees in Govern- ment schools came into operation.
ย
Education in general throughout the Colony received a great help in 1928 when Mr. Woo Hay Tong presented a large sum of money, the interest from which provided Wou Hay Tong Scholarships in all Government schools and made a Fubstantial provision for similar scholarships in other schools, St. Josep's College, the Diocesan Boys' School and Diocesan Girls' School.
The figures of the 1931 census throw some light on the expansion of education. The figures were for March, 1931. Population Of Colony:
Chinese
Non-Clunese
Total
821,429 28,322
849,751
Children (between 5 and 14):
Hong Kong and Kowloon 88,481 New Territories Afloat
Total
17,940 12,587
119.008
(I'
The Director of Education's re- port for that year shows that there were 1,089 schools registered controlled by the Director and the number of pupils in attendance was 68,593.
During this year the syllabus both in English and Chinese, in use in the District schools (Gov- ernment), was under revision by a Departmental Committee, and the Class 4 entrance examination to the upper schools of Queen's Col- lege and King's College was for the Arst time thrown
open To Those attending any of the unpro- vided schools. (I had previously been confined to the lower schools of Queen's College, King's College, and the four Government Distric Schools).
Burney Visit
At the beginning of 1935 the Colony was visited
by Mr. E. Burney, M.C., one of His Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, who made an enquiry into the local educa- tional system. His report recom- mended far-reaching changes in the School Certificate Examina- tion, the curriculum of the Anglo- Chinese schools, and stressed the need for primary vernacular edu- cation.
In the following years changes were made in the Education sys- tem, the Board of Education re- commended in 1932 that the Senior and Junior Local Examin- ations be abolished and a School Leaving Certificate Examination be substituted, and in 1935 this was carried into effect. The first School Certificate Examination was under the control of the Hong Kong University, but in order to give effect to the recommendations made by Mr. E. Burney, H.M.I., in his report (1935), a school cer- tificate examination to be taken at Class 2 (ie., the class next below the Matriculation class) was ar- ranged under the control of the Education Department.
To carry, this cut an Examina¬ tion Syndicate was formed. This consisted of
The Director. of Education
(President),
Senior Inspector of Schools.
(Chairman),
Heads of Boys' Schools (2) Provided and 2 Grant-in- Aid).
2 Heads of Girls' Schools, (The six Heads of Schools are determined. bý raster). ¿
In 1937, the first Examination controlled by the Local Examina-
tion Syndicate was he'd. All Government and Grant-in-Aid English schools entered for this examination.
was
In 1933 a school known as the Junior Technical School opened, providing a course for pre-apprenticeship training of prospective artisans. This school occupied the site of the Victoria British School, which after many years of excellent service to the department was closed down in 1931. With the inauguration of the Technical School the Technical Institute resumed its old title of Evening Continuation Classes, or the Evening Institule, the name being changed but not the policy.
Trade School
In 1936 a new Trade School came into existence, and the Head of the Junior Technical School be- came Principal of the Trade and Technical Schools. This School in 1937, when more fully equip- ped, opened courses in wireless telegraphy, building and motor car engineering. Applications for entry to all courses in both the Junior Technical and the Trade School far exceed the available accommodation. The average at- tendance at the two schools dur- ing 1937 was 171.
Although a certain amount of medical examination of students was carried out in pre-war days it was not until 1019 onwards that this was made an important part of school life.
steps were
In 1920-21 inspections of schools were carried out by officers of the Medical Department with the as- sistance of the Medical Officer of Health, but in 1924 faken to obtain 1 whole-time Medical Officer for schools, and in 1925 a Lady Medical Officer was appointed. Under her guidance the whole system of medical examina- tion was expanded. In 1933 she was succeeded by the present Health Offeer for Schools and two Chinese Medical Officers for Schools were also appointed. 1937 a lady Medical Officer Schools was appointed in addition to the Health Officer.
In
for
Now students are examined ou entry to Government schools ant periodically afterwards. Physical. Training is a part of the school curriculum, each student receiv- ing at least one hour's training cach weck. In 1937 a new post of Physical Training Supervisor was made, prior to which the training had been given by in- structors seconded from the mill- tary authorities.
Grants-In-Aid
By the end of 1837 eleven of the Grant-in-Aid schools had, at their own expense established medical inspection services on the lines of the system carried out in the Gov- ernment schools.
The Central British School re- moved to new and spacious prem- ises in 1936, the new building being one of the finest in the Far East, well equipped and possessing good playing fields.
At the end. of 1937 the average attendance at all schools reached the record figure of 88,993 repre- senting 1,177 schools The estim- ated population at the end of 1936 was 088,190, but th's has increased very considerably during 1937-38 owing to the influx of refugees from China,
In 1938 His Excellency the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, appointed a committee to report on the training of teachers, both English and Vernacular,
The chief recommendation of the committee was that Govern" ment should take immediate steps to provide a new centre or centres in the Colony, for the training öf
are
Law And Its Practice
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tion of jus ice, rendering it com- paratively easy for the judges of the Hong Kong Court to arrive at a correct conclusion in most cases In which points of law are in- volved, guided as they are by the decisions of the High Court in England on similar subjects. Therefore the provisions, prac tically, of every latute in forec in England which can be consi- dered to be advantageous to the inhabitants of this Colony, and not inapplicable to its con- ditions, have been embodied in Ordinances passed in Hong Kong subsequently to the pussing these statutes, and the laws of the Colony amended us have been those of England. But it has in recent years been considered ad- visable by the local Legislature to make special laws for the pro- tection of persons dwelling in the Colony, or in certain districts; such for instance, as the Peak District (Residence) Ordinance 1918, which requires any person desir- ing to reside in the Peak district to obtain the permission of the Government to do so.
of
The main feature in local legis - lation during the past 10 years has been the codification of many of the older Ordinances which suffered from numerous amend- ments and alterations from time to time, the principal examples of which are the Ordinances relat - ing to companies, trustees, sum- mary offences, bankruptcy, public health, pharmacy and poisons,
New subjects covered in cent legislation include divorce, and laws affecting telecommuni- cations, factories and workshops, juvenile offenders and others in connection with conditions in the Far East, the prevention of evic- tion and immigration.
men
and
women teachers both Anglo-Chinese and Vernacılar,
In accordance with this recom- mendation the Teachers' Training College was opened in September, 1939 in temporary quarters. It is expected that a new and specially equipped building will be ready for occupation by March, 1941.
Simultaneously with the open- ing of this new college the train- ing course for rural teachers at the Taipo Normal School was ex- tended.
The courses of study in the Government Engiish schools were re-organised in 1939 so as to per- mit a four-year primary course ending at Class 5 and then
for those students who qualify three-year secondary course end- ing at the local school certificate examination.
In 1940 the Board of Education was reconstituted with a maxi- mum of twenty members so as to include representatives of all the main aspects of education In Hong Kong.
As a result of the evacuation of children from Hong Kong in July; 1940 the Central British School, the military schools and the three junior British schools did not re- open after the summer vacation. · A small class however, continued at the Peak School and another at the Kowloon Junior School,
Further mention must be made? of the Hong Kong Teachers' As- sociation, founded in 1932, which besides, alding its. members through the provision of an up- to-date library and the arrange- ment of lectures gave considerable attention to the revision, of school and examination syllabuses and conducted the first local experi- ments in visual old work,
1941