WEDNESDAY
OCTOBER 20, 1982
2
IN 1971, THE GOVERNMENT SPENT ONLY $600 MILLION ON ALL FORMS OF EDUCATION, COMPARED WITH $5 BILLION THIS YEAR, HE POINTED OUT.
THE INTRODUCTION OF FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE PREVIOUS DECADE LED TO PROGRESSIVE BUILD-UP OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES, HE SAID.
THE NUMBER OF PUBLIC SECTOR PLACES IN FORMS IV AND V MORE THAN DOUBLED BETWEEN 1978 AND 1981 AND, WITH THE COMPLETION OF THE PRESENT SECONDARY SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAMME IN 1985, THE TARGET OF 57 000 PUBLIC SECTOR PLACES IN THESE FORMS WILL HAVE BEEN MET, HE ADDED.
AT THE SIXTH FORM LEVEL, THE TARGET OF PLACES FOR UP TO ONE-THIRD OF STUDENTS ENTERING FORM IV CLASSES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR HAD ALREADY BEEN ACHIEVED, HE POINTED OUT.
+TO CATER FOR THE WIDER RANGE OF APTITUDES WHICH ARE EMERGING AS A RESULT OF THE EXPANSION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION AND TO DO THIS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE BY PROVIDING A DIVERSITY OF OPPORTUNITIES IN A RANGE OF INSTITUTIONS, THE GOVERNMENT HAS PLACED GREAT EMPHASIS ON DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL EDUCATION, SIR PHILIP CONTINUED.
THERE SHOULD BE FIRST YEAR DEGREE PLACES FOR SIX PER CENT OF THE RELEVANT AGE GROUP BY THE END OF THIS DECADE, RISING TO EIGHT PER CENT IN THE MID-1990S, COMPARED WITH TWO PER CENT TODAY, HE POINTED OUT.
+THESE ARE SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES AND PROOF OF THE GOVERNMENT'S DETERMINATION TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG, SIR PHILIP STRESSED.
DEVELOPMENTS IN ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY STRESSED *****
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN HONG KONG'S ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY WOULD ENABLE THE MANUFACTURERS AND EXPORTERS TO SUPPLY TO A CONTINUOUSLY CHANGING MARKET, THE DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRY, MR PETER TSAO, SAID TODAY (WEDNESDAY).
OPENING THE 1982 HONG KONG ELECTRONICS FAIR AT THE MIRAMAR HOTEL, MR TSAO ALSO NOTED THE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE+ OF THE INDUSTRY LAST YEAR, WHEN SOME $15 000 MILLION WORTH OF ELECTRONICS GOODS WERE EXPORTED, MAKING UP 19 PER CENT OF TOTAL DOMESTIC EXPORTS.
HE WAS PARTICULARLY ENCOURAGED BY THE EXPORT GROWTH OF CERTAIN COMPARATIVELY NEW PRODUCTS, HE SAID, POINTING OUT THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY WAS THE SECOND LARGEST INDUSTRY IN HONG KONG.
+WHILE PORTABLE RADIOS AND RECORDERS, ELECTRONIC WATCHES AND COMPUTER COMPONENTS STILL FORM THE BACKBONE OF THE INDUSTRY, THERE HAS BEEN A REMARKABLE INCREASE IN EXPORTS OF TELEVISION SETS, TV GAMES AND TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT.
* THE ADVENT