CO129-603-2 Education Department- revised grant code 5-4-1948 - 6-1-1949 — Page 134

Ying Wa College

Kowloon.

24th April, 1948.

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134

The Director of Education, Education Department, Hong Kong.

Sir,

Wo thank you for a copy of your letter to the Very Rev. Father Bourke, S. J. and a copy of a letter from the Anglican Grant Schools dated 31st March, 1948 and offer the following comments.

We do not feel that the proposed amendments to the Code militate against "that variety and play of personality which is important in very educational system". In our opinion it is almost impossible to devise a Code which would have that effect, for such a code would have to set out in detail what was done in every classroom, the words spoken in every classroom, and the way in which every mombor of the staff should behave and would need an army of supervisors to administer. It is suggested by the Anglican Grant Schools that in the provided schools in England there is no variety and play of personality? If such were the case all the provided schools would be exactly alike and teachers mere automato. We know that this is not the case, and we see no reason for claiming that the proposed amendments would have that effect.

We feel that the administration of the Code up to the present has been to encourage wider curricula and certainly not a single proposal from us has been rejected. Under the code it will be possible to have better equipped schools than we had in the past, and a larger proportion of European teachers than was possible under the previous code without charging fees that placed the schools out of reach of the community we wish to serve.

We consider that the Grant Schools will have little reason for complaint if the proposed provision under Article 37 is approved, particularly since the code provides for Depreciation of Buildings, the payment of interest on loans incurred before the introduction of the present code, and the establishment of a Provident Fund. The additional chargu permitted under the proposed amedment is sufficient to meet expenses such as Sports Expenses, Library Expenses, and the cost of Medical Inspections, and to provide for replace..ont of equipment and the schools' share of the major repairs. It is not of course adequate to provide for now capital expenditure, but in our opinion that is not a legitimate charge on school fees and would bear unfairly on the prosent generation of pupils. Schools have available now the same sources of income for Capital Expenditure as they had under the previous Code. In the discussions on the form of the new Code that took place before the war it was never contemplated

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