Wednesday, April 7, 1976
}
34
While the Education Department had undertaken to provide locos in
Forms
4 and 5 in the public sector for 40 per cent of the 15-16 age group for
those most capable of benefiting, the Director said it was also important to
provide the right kind of vocationally oriented education or training for
the substantial proportion of Form 3 leavers who obtained employment but whe
wanted to advance themselves through educational means,
"Here again the further development of the technical institutes and
the need to make them attractive and exciting places spring to mind.
Much thought is being given to this whole area in considering the
scale, nature and degree of selectivity which we should apply to the education
to be provided in the public after Form 3," Mr. Topley said.
The Director stated that one of his long-term tasks as to make
adequate provision for teachers.
We have always recognised that the backbone of the educational system
must be the body of trained teachers working in it and over the years very
substantial efforts have been made to build and staff Colleges of Education
and to provide the appropriate number of teachers to man the system," he said.
Although steps were taken in 1972 to calculate the right output of
teachers to meet the secondary expansion programme, what was rot Inown at the
time was precisely how the expansion was to be effected.
"Now it is plain that our initial, I repeat initial thrust must be
through the buying of places in private schools we are faced with a real
difficulty," Mr. Topley said.
The number of