HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. E. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, my plea today will be for a more democratic approach to some of the problems that perplex almost every member of our community. It is not difficult to find subjects in which the rights of human beings are being neglected, but because of time I shall concentrate on only four of them: education, resettlement, public transport, and the democratic principles involved in them all.
First of all, education. I want to praise the present Director of Education. I hope the public will realize that when Mr. DONOHUE retires we are losing a man of sterling character. During the two years of his ministry, his educational policy has been severely criticized, and considered unsuited to Chinese tradition, but no one could ever say that his purpose was not good. The Director has done the very best that a man can do when handcuffed by economy. He is not to be blamed if Government has expected him to buy a thousand dollars' worth of goods with only a dollar.
To speak of higher education first, I welcome the new Chinese University. In the past the incentive has been for students to study in a foreign language, English, purely for utility purposes. This has been killing the seeds of Chinese culture in Hong Kong. May the Chinese University begin a revival of Chinese culture here.
To move to the lower end of the education scale, I call upon Government to give to the children of Hong Kong one of their basic human rights, free and compulsory education from the age of 5 to 14 at least. Even if this means temporarily leaving secondary education to private organizations, we must offer this basic education free to all. If we deprive the little ones of the key to the future, the chance to enjoy reading, a consciousness of the world they live in, can we grumble in later years if they are ignorant and ill-mannered and as Mr. WONG says unethical?
So far, Government has failed lamentably to provide universal education. Until and unless Government does provide such education, I call upon them to relax the regulations on private schools. If population can be used as an excuse by Government for all its shortcomings, why can the same excuse not be used for a few shortcomings in private schools? No, they are still expected to toe the line of standards applied in privileged countries, for example, in the matter of permitted numbers, the rule of 10 square feet per child is still being demanded. Please notice that I am not advocating sardine-tin conditions, but just a realistic relaxation. Since the Education Ordinance was instituted more than 10 years ago, many things have changed; but the Ordinance has not kept up-to-date with these changes to meet the needs of the present day.
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To turn to a particular problem facing schools today—rents. Numerous civic bodies and organizations have begged of Government to put a curb on the rents of premises used for schools or business. I ask again that Government will put an end to this wave of extortion. Why does Government close its eyes to an evil that is not only rendering people homeless and ruining the small business-man, but is also closing down schools? So great is the sense of insecurity that some school authorities are afraid to mention their rent problem. How can teachers work effectively or children feel any sense of security, when everything hinges around the solicitor's notice to quit or pay up? How dare the Government presume to control private schools when they are not prepared either to assist them or to protect them from the robber landlords?
May I also ask why Government encourages a wrong outlook on education by imposing a business tax on private schools? If Government officially regards schools as business, can teachers, managers or students be blamed for doing likewise? And if private schools must have business licences, why not Government schools too, since they also take fees? Why do we have two standards, one for the private schools and one for the Government schools? Is Government aware that it is an outrage to Chinese traditional education to regard it as a business?
There are other matters in which the double standard is seen. The Education Ordinance, Part 1 article 6(1)(a) states that Government schools and schools supported by Government are exempt from the provisions of the Ordinance. Why should they be exempt? In case anyone should say that Government schools never come below the standard anyhow and do not need to comply let me quote an example. A private school is compelled by law to have one toilet for the use of 20 or 25 pupils. Some Government subsidized schools are allowed to operate with one toilet for fifty pupils. I could quote other examples of this double standard.
As if these discrepancies were not enough for private schools to cope with, in addition to the rent racket, they are also subject to further regulations superimposed by the medical inspectorate for schools. This department has its own wonderful ways of curtailing the activities of private schools, and no one can be sure what will be the next regulation they will invent in addition to those in the Education Ordinance. They have their own way of reckoning too wonderful for the average mind to fathom. I should like to ask those inspectors, in dealing with schools, to remember that those schools are trying to provide what Government has failed to provide, and not to treat school supervisors as if they were criminals. (Laughter).
Many of the problems experienced by private schools are unknown to the Government that makes the Ordinances. Far from the people
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