XN000022-1974-10-30 — Page 13

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1974.

OVERCROWDING GETTING WORSE IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS GOVERNMENT URGED TO MOVE QUICKLY TO EASE SITUATION X X X X X X

THE HON. P.G. WILLIAMS TODAY URGED THE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE AVAILABLE SUITABLE TEMPORARY PREMISES TO EASE OVERCROWDING IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS IN HONG KONG.

THE SITUATION IN THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS WAS DETERIORATING BY THE MONTH, HE TOLD COUNCIL, STRESSING THAT IF A REAL CRISIS WERE TO BE AVERTED THE GOVERNMENT MUST MOVE QUICKLY.+

AT PRESENT, STUDENTS WHO COULD NOT BE ACCOMMODATED IN KOWLOON JUNIOR SCHOOL AND IN QUARRY BAY SCHOOL HAD TO ATTEND CLASSES IN OTHER SCHOOLS, WHILE KENNEDY ROAD SCHOOL RAN CLASSES IN TWO ADJACENT BUILDINGS, NEITHER DESIGNED AS A SCHOOL.

NEITHER DESIGNED AS A SCHOOL, IN ADDITION, ADMISSION TO KING GEORGE V AND ISLAND SCHOOL WAS BECOMING INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT.

SUITABLE TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION ON BOTH SIDES OF THE HARBOUR, HE SAID, COULD PROVIDE A BREATHING SPACE UNTIL PERMANENT PREMISES BECAME AVAILABLE. AS IT WAS, HE DID NOT BELIEVE THAT A BUILDING PROGRAMME COULD BE COMPLETED IN TIME TO PREVENT A REAL CRISIS.

THE MEASURE WAS NOT WITHOUT PRECEDENT AS A SIMILAR SITUATION IN 1966 WAS SOLVED WITHIN A YEAR BY MAKING AVAILABLE TO THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION A BUILDING TO OPEN ISLAND SCHOOL IN TEMPORARY QUARTERS.

MR. WILLIAMS SUGGESTED THAT TEMPORARY PREMISES IN KOWLOON COULD TAKE IN THE FIRST CLASSES OF BOTH A NEW JUNIOR SCHOOL AND A NEW SECONDARY SCHOOL WHICH COULD SEPARATE AND MOVE TO THEIR OWN PREMISES WHEN COMPLETED WHILE THOSE ON HONG KONG ISLAND COULD TAKE IN THE EXISTING ADDITIONAL CLASSES, WHICH COULD LATER BE ABSORBED INTO THE STUBBS ROAD SCHOOL OR BECOME THE NUCLEUS OF THE NEW SCHOOL IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF HONG KONG.

HE WARNED THAT THE PRESENT OVERCROWDING AND APPALLING FUTURE PROSPECTS+' OF ENGLISH SCHOOLS COULD PLACE IN JEOPARDY SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT PLANS. NO ALLOWANCE, HE SAID, HAD BEEN MADE FOR THE ADDITIONAL INFLUX FROM OVERSEAS TO IMPLEMENT NEW GOVERNMENT PROJECTS, AND HE NOTED THAT A FIGURE OF 400 FAMILIES EACH IN THE CASE OF THE MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM AND THE POLYTECHNIC HAD BEEN MENTIONED.

+INDEED I QUESTION THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING THAT INDICATE SCHOULING IS AVAILABLE WHEN UNLESS URGENT AND IMMEDIATE ACTION IS TAKEN THIS CERTAINLY WILL NOT BE TRUE.

+CAN WE RECRUIT AND RETAIN ESSENTIAL OVERSEAS STAFF UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES?+ HE ASKED.

MR. WILLIAMS EMPHASISED THAT HE WAS NOT PLEADING FOR SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR A SMALL SEGMENT OF THE COMMUNITY, BUT THEY HAD EQUAL ENTITLEMENT TO A SUITABLE EDUCATION FOR THEIR CHILDREN.

PLANNING OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS, HE WENT ON, APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN INADEQUATE AND BASED ON ACTUAL ENROLMENT SINCE 1954. NEITHER HAD IT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT THAT THE NEED HAD GROWN AT A FASTER RATE THAN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING POPULATION AS A WHOLE.

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