Transition to universal education not yet complete: SEM
The transition from a selective to a universal system of education will not be complete until educators change the way they approach their work.
This was the theme of a speech by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Michael Leung, at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Association of Heads of Secondary Schools tonight (Friday).
"I put forward the proposition that the transition from a selective to a universal education system is still incomplete," Mr Leung said.
"We have completed the quantitative aspects of the transition. But the qualitative aspects of the transition depend much more on what professional educators can do, than on anything the Government can do."
Mr Leung said some educators still looked back to a mythical "Golden Age" when all students were well-behaved and eager to learn; when the Government and the public let schools go peacefully about their business of helping students pass exams; and there were no winds of change blowing around the schools.
"Nearly a quarter of a century ago we introduced universal, free and compulsory primary education," Mr Leung said.
"This was a major advance in public policy. Previously, we aimed to provide places for children who wanted schooling, or who we thought could benefit from it.
"But since 1971, education has been recognised as a means for developing the potential of all our young people, the bright and not so bright, the eager and the not so eager, in the interests of the continued economic and social development of Hong Kong."
To support the proposition that the transition to universal education is still incomplete, Mr Leung referred to the response from educators to the report of the Working Group on Language Proficiency, on which the public were consulted earlier this year.