MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1974.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS FILL VITAL GAP IN EDUCATION SYSTEM
સમગ્ર
PRIVATE SCHOOLS PROVIDE ABOUT 50 PER CENT OF SECONDARY PLACES IN HONG KONG, THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, NR. KENNETH TOPLEY, SAID THIS AFTERNOON.
SPEAKING AT THE PRIZE GIVING CEREMONY OF NEW METHOD COLLEGE, MR. TOPLEY SAID: +IF PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE A LUXURY IN OTHER COUNTRIES, THEY FILL A VITAL GAP IN THE SYSTEN OF GOVENIMENT AND GOVERNMENT-AIDED SCHOOLS IN HONG KONG.+
HE EXPRESSED HIS APPRECIATION FOR THE WORK DONE BY SCHOOL S SUCH AS NEW METHOD COLLEGE.
THE DIRECTOR SAID: +IT IS CLEAR THAT NEW METHOD COLLEGE HAS PLAYED, AND NO DOUBT, WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY, A VERY IMPORTANT PART IN EDUCATION IN HONG KONG. IT HAS CO-OPERATED TO THE FULL WITH THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IN ITS WORK, AND ITS EXPANSION RUNS PARALLEL TO THE EXPANSION OF EDUCATION IN HONG KONG IN RECENT YEARS, WHICH REFLECTS THE KEEN INTEREST MR. VILSON WANG TAKES IN THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF HONG KONG.
+I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PAY TRIBUTE TO MR. WANG'S EFFORT AND TO CONGRATULATE HIM ON THE SUCCESS HIS SCHOOL HAS HAD IN ALL THESE YEARS.+
THE COLLEGE STARTED AS AN 11-ROOM SCHOOL HOUSED IN DOMESTIC PREMISES WITH AN ENROLMENT OF 358 IN 1951. AT PRESENT THERE ARE 48 CLASSES IN THE MATRICULATION SECTION, 227 CLASSES IN THE SECONDARY SECTION AND 73 IN THE PRIMARY" AND KINDERGARTEN, HOUSED IN SEVERAL PROPERLY BUILT SCHOOL EUILDINGS IN BOTH HONG KONG AND KOWLOON.
+THE ENROLMENT TOO, I NOTICE, HAS INCREASED MORE THAN 40-FOLD SINCE THE SCHOOL'S MODEST START 23 YEARS AGO, MR. TOPLEY SAID.
ADDRESSING THE PUPILS, THE DIRECTOR SPOKE ABOUT THE NEED FOR **THINKING IN SCHOOL.
HE SAID. +AS PUPILS, YOU HAVE NO DOUBT BEEN TOLD BY YOUR TEACHERS TO THINK FOR YOURSELVES, BUT MOST PUPILS DO NOT QUITE GRASP WHAT THIS MEANS, OR HAVE NOT GIVEN ENOUGH THOUGHT TO WHAT IT CAN MEAN OR, IN A FEW CASES, ARE PERHAPS TOO LAZY TO THINK. WHY THINK, YOU MAY ASK, WHEN YOU CAN SO CONVENIENTLY LEARN THE FACTS YOU HAVE TO LEARN? THIS IS THE QUESTION I SHOULD LIKE TO DWELL ON TODAY.
+THE FUNCTION OF EDUCATION USED TO BE TO TRAIN THE YOUNG IN THE TRADITIONS AND CUSTOM OF SOCIETY. THIS WAS TRUE IN THE PAST WHEN THE AVERAGE MAN WAS EXPECTED TO CONFORM TO THE PATTERN OF A SOCIETY WHICH WAS MORE OR LESS STATIC.
/+BUT TODAY, ..................