Page 47 of 187
62
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I don't know whether at his request, in the Chai Wan Primary School. There are two classrooms and these are staffed by teachers. They only open in the evening and most of the children using the rooms are Primary School children. The Government now proposes to set up a similar arrangement in Tong Mei Road, Shek Kei Mei, Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin and Lei Cheng Uk Government Primary Schools. I am sure we will all agree that these are needy areas and we are happy to see that these arrangements are being made. One of the aims of our Libraries Select Committee has been to provide a study room of 2,000 sq. ft. for every 20,000 of the secondary school population and these study rooms should be air-conditioned. However, now that the Government has begun to move, we on the Libraries Select Committee are urging them to provide this service themselves, so that our own Committee can spend its time and money on providing more and better library services for the whole population. We have therefore recommended to the Education Department that they should now consider providing study rooms in secondary as well as in primary schools in order to attract the older students. We have asked them to keep us informed of their projects. If the Government finds, as I am sure it will, that we can manage the study rooms better than they can—I believe they have had too much of a turnover already in their staff because of low pay—I am sure that my Committee would be happy, at Government expense, to lend our expertise, the expertise of our staff, to ensure the success of this scheme. Therefore, although we are carrying out the advice contained in Mr. BERNACCHI's motion and have already requested the Central Government to provide this study room service for students, I would be happy to reconsider Mr. BERNACCHI's suggestion, but propose rather that the matter be referred back to the Libraries Select Committee for further consideration.
MR. TSIN SAI-NIN (in Cantonese): ---Mr. Chairman. I sympathize with Mr. BERNACCHI and I think it is a necessity. I would feel that the Urban Council should bear a greater responsibility, not just study rooms, but in fact, the whole education of our community. For instance, I discussed this matter with Mr. Chairman as to whether we could use some buildings to carry out our educational work. But about this question, similar way as Mrs. ELLIOTT, the Chairman of the Libraries Select Committee, I had also discussed this matter with her as the Vice-Chairman of that Committee. A number of years ago, we had asked the Education Department to take up more responsibility in the studying of the students, but the reply we got was not very satisfactory and the estimation we got is that suppose for a study room capable of providing studies for 200 students, then about $2.00 per student. For instance, providing such facilities for 20,000 students, in other words, we have to pay $20,000 a day, or $600,000 a month for $7,200,000 a year, and perhaps for 10,000 students, the money required is one million odd dollars. So we had discussed every detail in the Libraries Select Committee and we had come to the decision that, in our capacity, we can only set up one study room in each library and we hope that in each district we can have one library with one study room. Of course, this is owing to the circumstances. And about the responsibility, of course, we can argue as to whether this is the responsibility of the Education Department or the responsibility of Home Affairs Department or is that the responsibility of our Libraries Select Committee? So I feel that we should pass the matter back to the Standing Committee of the Urban Council to find out as to the right way to carry out the ...
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
63
room.
MR. ALEX S. C. WU (in English):—Mr. Chairman. I raised my hand quite early in the proceeding, but I was not noticed. So Members who spoke before me have taken the thunder. Anyway, following from the Members' deliberation, I think there's one point to add, and that is the use of the study rooms for statistics has shown a more acute demand prior to examinations and if we calculate such intricacy, I think the cost per head per sitting would be twice as much as Mr. TSIN has mentioned. And because of this, we felt at Committee meeting that there should be greater demand on the dollar that we have towards the establishment of libraries in more densely populated areas such as Sham Shui Po.
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Thank you, Mr. Wu. The Chairman naturally could not be expected to look at you if you sit next to a lady as ladies have preference, ladies first. (Laughter). Miss Ko, did you want to speak again because you have spoken already. Now, Mr. Peter C. K. CHAN. I will deal with the closure motion under Standing Order 17. Now, after Mr. Peter C. K. CHAN has spoken, if any other Member wishes to speak, I will recognize his right to speak until I decide that the matter has been sufficiently discussed. But please signify clearly your intention of speaking before the right of reply is given to Mr. BERNACCHI.
MR. PETER C. K. CHAN (in English):—When I first tried to get your attention, I was not successful.
CHAIRMAN (in English):—You did not get my attention because you did not try to get it; you were listening to what your colleagues had to say before deciding to take the floor. (Laughter).
Page 47 of 187