CO129-574-1 Salaries and promotion prospects of women graduate teachers 5-8-1938 - 27-9-1938 — Page 24

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holding the senior posts.

Since the Salaries' Commission, when the post of Headmistress of

Belilios Girls' School was made a special one carrying a maximum salary

of £950 per annum, and four senior posts at £750 per annum, were created,

the headship of Belilios Girls' School and three of the four senior posts

have always been held by non-graduates.

An efficient graduate mistress of about 10 years seniority in

Hong Kong is worse off financially as well as in other ways referred to

See Appendia § § 718

in section 2 than she would be in England, where she would have opportunities

of be coming a headmistress with. a salary up to £950 per annum before the age

of 40.

See appendia

84

It is surely not to the best interests of the service, that the

most highly qualified women teachers in the Education Department of Hong Kong

should go through their career, with the knowledge that there is no prospect

of any more responsible position than the one they occupy when they first come

to the Colony. Such a system is contrary to that prevailing in any other

Government Department or any business firm.

n view of this, the graduate mistresses read with interest paragraph 6 of your Excellency's despatch of 19th August, 1936 to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and hope that in future promotion to a senior post will 'not

be misused as an engine of automatic promotion.'

2.

Furthermore, whereas in England it is the graduates who have the

opportunities of positions of responsibility as senior mistresses and head- mistresses, in Hong Kong almost all such positions go to the non-graduate

mistresses. They can become headmistresses of the three Junior English

schools as well as the Girls' Secondary School, and Senior Mistress in

the only mixed school, the Central British.

Graduate mistresses who teach at Queen's and King's Colleges, the

Central British School and at Belilios Girls' School have no chance of

becoming even second assistant at any of these schools except Belilios

Girls' School.

Thirdly we should like to point out that, though the graduate

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