(b)
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41
The Administration is committed to ensuring that our students acquire a high level of proficiency in both Chinese and English and has allocated substantial resources in this respect. It has accepted fully the recommendations of the Education Commission Report No. 6 entitled "Enhancing Language Proficiency: A Comprehensive Strategy" and is implementing from 1996/97 the Phase I recommendations at a full year recurrent cost of about $44 million. Highlighted below are some of the key measures which are being implemented and which will continue in the coming years:
the setting up of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research in October 1996 to provide an institutional framework to enable research to be conducted into language education needs of Hong Kong, to develop policies to meet those needs, and to monitor and evaluate such policies in a coherent and systematic manner;
the Education Department will continue with the Extensive English Reading Scheme for Primary Five to Secondary Three students, which has been implemented on a phased basis since September 1991. A Chinese Extensive Reading Scheme in Primary Schools (Phase I) was introduced in December 1996 and since then about 4,800 students from 34 primary schools have participated in the Scheme. It is anticipated that about 8,400 students from 60 schools will participate in Phase II of the Scheme starting September 1997;
a pilot scheme on the Intensive English Course for Secondary Six students in English-medium schools was introduced in late 1996 to help the target students achieve the standard of English required for entry into the tertiary institutions. Meanwhile the Intensive English Language Programme for Secondary Six and Secondary Seven students in Chinese-medium schools continues, benefiting about 3,300 students;
to enhance the effectiveness of language teaching, the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications has engaged consultants to set language benchmarks for teachers and has now developed tentative language benchmarks for English teachers of lower secondary forms, teachers of Putonghua and those using Chinese as the medium of instruction in primary schools. Further studies will need to be conducted before the benchmarks are finalised. Thereafter, the benchmarks will be imposed on new teachers as soon as possible, and all serving teachers are expected to pass the benchmark examinations within a reasonable period of time;