XN000022-1975-01-13 — Page 2

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1975.

7

SCHOOLS TOLD TO IMPROVE QUALITY

OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

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THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, M7, KENNETH TOPLEY, TODAY STRESSED THE NEED TO IMPOVE THE QUALITY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION.

ADDRESSING A LUNCHEON MEETING OF THE HONG KONG COTTON SPINNERS ASSOCIATION, MR. TOPLEY SAID IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR SCHOOLS TO TONE DOWN THE PRESENT EMPHASIS ON THE PURELY INSTRUCTIONAL ASPECT OF SCHOOLING.

HE CALLED FOR THE ADOPTION OF THE CHILD-CENTRED EDUCATION' CONCEPT WHICH, HE SAID, WOULD GO A LONG WAY TOWARDS RE-VITALIZING PRIMARY EDUCATION.

THIS CONCEPT, HR. TOPLEY SAID, +DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE NEED TO RECOGNISE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, ALLOWS GREATER FREEDOM IN THE CLASSROOM AND ENCOURAGES HORE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION BY THE PUPILS.+

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD MADE A GOOD START IN INITIATING CURRICULUM AND SUBJECT DEVELOPMENT, EXPERIMENTING WITH THE

ACTIVITY APPROACH, REVISING THE PROGRAMME FOR INITIAL TEACHER- TRAINING, ORGANISING COURSES FOR FURTHER TRAINING OF SERVING TEACHERS. TRANSMITTING AND REFINING ETV LESSONS, ISSUING GUIDES AND BULLETINS TO SCHOOLS, AND PERIODICALLY MOUNTING CONFERENCES, SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS, HE SAID.

+NATURALLY, MORE WORK WILL BE DONE TO ENSURE THAT CHANGE CONFORMS TO SOUND WELL-ESTABLISHED PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO THE NEEDS OF LOCAL CONDITIONS.+

THE DEPARTMENT HAD ALSO MADE A DEFINITE ATTEMPT TO DISCOURAGE FORMAL TEACHING AND MERE ROTE LEARNING. A COMPARISON OF RECENT S.S.E.E. PAPERS WITH THOSE SET SOME YEARS AGO WOULD SHOW THIS.

THE DIRECTOR SAID HIS DEPARTMENT HAD TAKEN STEPS SINCE 1972 TO REDUCE THE DIFFICULTY OF THE EXAMINATION BY EASY STAGES.

*THE SUREST WAY TO SUCCESS IN THIS EXAMINATION IS GOOD COVERAGE OF THE TEACHING SYLLABUSES, COUPLED WITH A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF DIAGNOSTIC TESTING AND REMEDIAL TEACHING, WHILE ALLOWING THE CHILDREN ADEQUATE TIME FOR FRESH AIR, PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND SLEEP.+

PRIMARY EDUCATION FEATURED PROMINENTLY IN HONG KONG'S EDUCATION SYSTEM, AFTER ALL, NEARLY 700,000 CHILDREN OUT OF A TOTAL SCHOOL POPULATION OF 1.3 MILLION ARE ATTENDING PRIMARY SCHOOLS WHICH NUMDER 1,190, BIG AND SMALL, HE SAID.

DRAWING ATTENTION TO ONE ASPECT OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM WHICH ALSO MADE FOR QUALITY, 17. TOPLEY SAID: +¡ FEEL THAT KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN THEMSELVES ARE NOT ENOUGH, THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILD SHOULD HAVE ADEQUATE OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP MORAL AND SPIRITUAL QUALITIES AND TO STRENGTHEN CHARACTER.

/+IT IS