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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1993
OVERSEAS TEACHERS HELP RAISE STUDENTS' ENGLISH STANDARD
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THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS REVIEWING THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND RECRUITMENT PROCEDURES FOR EMPLOYING BOTH "OVERSEAS" TEACHERS UNDER THE CODE OF AID, AND "EXPATRIATE" TEACHERS UNDER THE EXPATRIATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER (EELT) SCHEME BY SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
A SCHOOL CIRCULAR ANNOUNCING THE REVISED ARRANGEMENTS 13 EXPECTED TO BE ISSUED IN THE COMING SCHOOL YEAR.
IN
IN A WRITTEN REPLY TO A QUESTION BY THE HON TIMOTHY HA WING-HO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY), THE SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER, MR MICHAEL LEUNG, EXPLAINED THAT THE REVIEW FOLLOWED THE LOW UTILISATION OF THE QUOTA FOR "OVERSEAS" TEACHERS, AND OF SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS FROM SCHOOLS IN THE EELT SCHEME.
UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE CODE OF AID, AIDED SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF 12 ΤΟ 23 CLASSES MAY EMPLOY TWO TEACHERS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ON "OVERSEAS" TERMS; WHILE SCHOOLS OF 24 OR MORE CLASSES MAY · EMPLOY THREE SUCH TEACHERS.
APPROVAL HAS ALSO BEEN GIVEN FOR SOME SCHOOLS TO EMPLOY NO MORE THAN TWO TEACHERS UNDER THE EELT SCHEME ON "EXPATRIATE" TERMS WITHIN A QUOTA WHICH IS ADJUSTED ANNUALLY TO MATCH THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.
HOWEVER, STATISTICS SHOW THAT ONLY 27 SECONDARY SCHOOLS, OR SIX PER CENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN HONG KONG, EMPLOYED 11 "OVERSEAS" TEACHERS AND 33 "EXPATRIATE" TEACHERS IN 1990/ 91, REPRESENTING 0.27% AND 0.81% OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN ALL SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN HONG KONG RESPECTIVELY.
THIRTY-SIX SCHOOLS (8.2%) EMPLOYED 13 "OVERSEAS" (0.32%) AND 41 "EXPATRIATE" (1.01%) TEACHERS IN 1991/92; AND 40 SCHOOLS (8.8%) EMPLOYED 15 "OVERSEAS" (0.37%) AND 44 "EXPATRIATE" (1.08%) TEACHERS IN 1992/93.
MR LEUNG ALSO TOLD THE COUNCIL THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION HAD RECENTLY CONFIRMED ITS SUPPORT FOR THE BELT SCHEME AND DESCRIBED IT AS A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO RAISING STUDENTS' STANDARD OF ENGLISH.
FEEDBACK FROM HEADS OF SCHOOLS EMPLOYING WAS LIKEWISE POSITIVE, HE ADDED.
"OVERSEAS"
TEACHERS
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