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A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong
Five. But for some part-time technician courses completion of Form Four was acceptable. The College also ran a limited number of post-Higher Diploma endorsement courses rated at technologist level. Some led to membership of British professional institutions.
Believing that 'local ginger is not hot' a large number of our students, on graduating, left for Canada or Britain. In latter cases we frequently arranged for them to take up employment and to study on a day-release basis overseas. Our students acquitted themselves splendidly. We took pride in the fact that they were not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get their hands soiled.
The old Technical College was very much 'all things to all men' in the 1960s. It even ran a limited number of craft and pre-apprenticeship courses. A few of the students attending had only completed Form One or Form Two because nine years of universal, compulsory, free education had not been introduced. This was phased in between 1978 and 1981. In fact the impetus for the introduction of this general education milestone came largely from Britain.
Much rapid development took place under S J G Burt (nicknamed "The Bull" in Cantonese) who joined the Wan Chai Trade School in 1938. He became Principal of the then fairly recently renamed Technical College in 1951 and served until 1963 when he joined the World Bank as an advisor on technical education.
As elsewhere, technical education depended very much on personalities and Sidney Burt, although not always popular, has often been regarded, deservedly, as the 'grandfather' of technical education. Instead of a briefcase he carried a Hong Kong rattan basket and wore a Saigon linen, wet-wash suit, both carry-overs from an earlier era. In addition to driving us, his staff, he also drove himself. Without work he was like a bear with a sore ear. Every morning he was reputed to wake up and say to himself, 'Thank God for technical education'.