85
160 much]
fire in many of them, and most of the teachers were
entirely untrained,
unsatisfactory]
The teaching profession was
In some of the schools, however,
the standard was now beginning to improve. The
pupils were learning to read properly, and to use the
Arabic notation in arithmetic instead of the abacus.
Por the most part, however, too much time was devoted
to studying the Chinese characters and Classics, without
any instruction in their meaningr
Sh
The Government and Grant-Aided schools had done Soms good work, but had concentrated/upon the Hong Kong matriculation examination;
but the School Certificate Examination was now to take
the place both of this and of the Cambridge Junior
certificate examination. This change was open to the
objection that the education policy was being framed
for a minority. A larger proportion Could sit for the
School Certificate examination. Concentration on work
for this examination was unsatisfactory; it did not,
for example, allow time for craft-work, or for domestic
science for girls. A curriculum in which approximately half the available time was given to one foreign
language was not well planned, and, in any case, the training in English was not respects satisfactory.
in all
Training of Teachers.
Emohran
Teachers
were Gither The training of
teachers was undertaken by graduates who had had an
or
ordinary training themselves and by Chinese teachers. Some of the latter were graduates of Hong Kong
University, but there were others whose only training
had been that given in the Evening Institutes. In
Grant-Aided schools a great many teachers were in membres. religious
Holy Orders and their training would vary according
to their order.
Direction