XN000022-1972-03-15 — Page 38

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Wednesday, March 15, 1972

It was gratifying to note that some 17,000 additional places in

Form I to III plus a further 14,000 subsidized places in existing private

schools would be available during 1972/73.

"At this rate, we are pretty sure that the target will be reached

in time and with luck perhaps a little ahead of time," she said.

Hence, the ultimate aim for a subsidized universal secondary

education was no longer a far-fetched ideal but a possible reality in the

not too far distant future, she added.

Land Grant

"I would like to repeat my plea to Government to undertake to

accelerate its efforts to expedite the process of land grant and capital

subsidy to voluntary agencies to build and operate more secondary schools

and vocational centres during the next few years," she said.

Many people had criticised the education system as too academic

and too examination-oriented.

A system of competitive selection, especially at the university

entrance level, had to remain a necessary evil as long as the three tiers

of education remained a sharp pyramid.

"However, the aim of secondary education should not be so much

to produce candidates for the universities, but more important, to produce

useful and responsible citizens as well as a trained work force for commerce

and industry and the professions," she said.

"The period 12 to 18 is the most important and formative years in

a child's life and we depend heavily on this particular tier of the education

system for the development of character, good citizenship and high moral

standards in our children, through strict discipline and extra-curricula

activities."

/Mrs. Li