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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
As we are permitted to speak on any subject under the sun at our Urban Council debate, I should now like to speak on my own profession, that is education. I am worried about the children today because too many of them are losing that special Chinese propensity for study. There are many reasons, such as the counter attractions of our electronic and noisy pastimes which deafen us all and leave our minds in confusion; or the numerous attractions to gamble, legally or illegally. But the issue I would like to stress is the medium of teaching which is driving some average and below average children to chase after those other unacceptable attractions. The Government should be turning its attention towards the fact that vast numbers of secondary school children simply cannot cope with an English language curriculum, and attempting to do the impossible is killing their interest in any kind of study. Those who administer, usually do not know the problems of education, because they have no experience except their own privileged education. They go fumbling blindly along providing more English teachers, spending more money, but creating more and more problems because they have never addressed themselves to the whole or the real problem. And the real problem is that no child can be properly educated in a language foreign to his mother tongue. English in Hong Kong would be a good tool for a future career if taught as a second language, by fully bi-lingual teachers. All other lessons should be in the native tongue, so that a child may learn his own culture, customs and ethical values. Using English as the medium of teaching, now that education is universal, is as out of place in Hong Kong today as the old classical education for civil servants in the Manchu Dynasty would be out of place in present-day China. It is useless for the Government to ask the schools which language they want to choose, because the schools will choose what they know the parents want from the present system, and the present system favours those who take their certificate examinations in English. The children are being damaged. Education in Hong Kong has lost its fundamental meaning, and has become merely a vehicle for making money. We need to restore the original function of education, that of guiding and nourishing the young.
May I beg the Government to stop putting patches on to the old education garment of Hong Kong, and get down to studying what are the real educational needs of our children here. And we do not want highly paid foreign consultants to find out what we need. We have plenty of expertise here, but unfortunately local experts are ignored, by the amateurs who decide our educational policies. We need a new look in education, not new patches, because the future generation is important for Hong Kong.
Mr. Chairman, there are many other subjects I could mention, but I think I have said enough.
I support the Motion before us today.
(Mr. FAN Kam-ping left the meeting at 2:50 p.m.)
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THE HON. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English): Mr. Chairman, I wish to give my full support to the Statement of Aims of the Urban Council for the financial year 1988-89.
Our budget for the coming year in the implementation of our objectives has been increased by 13.8 per cent from $2,225 million to $2,532 million: this indicates the genuine commitment of the thirty Councillors on the Urban Council to improve the quality of life of Hong Kong people.
The role of the Urban Council as a body with statutory responsibilities and financial autonomy is different from that of the District Boards which are consultative in nature without statutory or financial responsibilities, and which are under the City and New Territories Administration.
Although the Statement of Aims has my wholehearted support I would like to take the opportunity to make a few constructive observations.
Hawkers
Already a number of recommendations of the Urban Council Working Party on Hawker and Related Policies have been accepted by the relevant Select Committee and I urge that no time be lost in implementing such recommendations.
In particular I would urge that Government and the Housing Authority give full and determined support to the Urban Council in keeping the hawker situation under control.
The need for a concerted and sustained effort by the Urban Council and Government to control and reduce the level of illegal street trading cannot be over-stressed. The general public do not understand why illegal street trading is still so prevalent at a time of virtually full employment and serious labour shortages in the manufacturing and service industries. At the very least, a concerted effort must be made by the Urban Council and the Government jointly to discourage young people from participating in illegal street trading either full time or part time.
Markets
I note that the report concerning market facilities for the Central District and for Wan Chai has been completed, and I would urge that it be studied by the relevant Select Committee as soon as possible together with the comments of the Urban Services Department.
Wan Chai residents and the Wan Chai District Board have been concerned about the improvement of market facilities at the Wan Chai Market and the Wong Nei Chung Market. They look forward to early action by the Urban Council in this regard.