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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1979

PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATION GREEN PAPER

TO BE PUBLISHED SOON

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A GREEN PAPER ON PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATION IS EXPECTED TO BE PUBLISHED BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR AND AN OVERALL REVIEW OF HONG KONG'S EDUCATION SYSTEM IS ENVISAGED IN EARLY 1981, THE GOVERNOR, SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE, SAID TODAY (WEDNESDAY).

IN HIS ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, SIR MURRAY SAID THE GREEN PAPER WOULD SET OUT THE PROBLEMS AT THE PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY LEVELS AND MAKE PROPOSALS FOR DEALING WITH THEM, WHILE THE OVERALL REVIEW WAS TO LOOK AT OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM AS A WHOLE, IN PARTICULAR THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE VARIOUS PARTS WHICH HAD BEEN REVIEWED SEPARATELY.

ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PLANS TO PROVIDE A FREE JUNIOR SECONDARY PLACE FOR EVERY CHILD, HE SAID, IT HAD PROCEEDED SMOOTHLY, AND THE WHOLE AGE GROUP WOULD BE IN SCHOOL BY SEPTEMBER NEXT YEAR. +SO A MILESTONE IN HONG KONG'S EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS WILL HAVE BEEN PASSED, HE SAID.

HE ALSO NOTED THAT THE PLANS TO EXPAND THE SUBSIDISED SENIOR SECONDARY AND TERTIARY EDUCATION BETWEEN 1979 AND 1986 AS PUBLISHED IN LAST YEAR'S WHITE PAPER WERE WELL RECEIVED AND PROCEEDING.

HE SAID THE PROVISION OF THE PLANNED NUMBER OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES REQUIRED 130 SCHOOLS, BUT FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS AND GEOTECHNICAL PROBLEMS HAD COMBINED TO DELAY 12 OF THESE AND WOULD TEMPORARILY EXTEND THE GOVERNMENT'S RELIANCE ON BOUGHT PLACES IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

AN ADDITIONAL 1 700 SUBSIDISED PLACES AT BOTH SIXTH FORM AND POST-SIXTH FORM LEVELS WILL BE PROVIDED BY TWO OF THE THREE APPROVED POST-SECONDARY COLLEGES WHO HAVE ACCEPTED GOVERNMENT'S FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM SEPTEMBER THIS YEAR. THE TWO COLLEGES WILL RESTRUCTURE THEIR PROGRAMMES TO PROVIDE SEPARATE TWO-YEAR COURSES AT SIXTH FORM AND POST-FORM SIX LEVELS.

ON TERTIARY EDUCATION, SIR MURRAY SAID: +CONSIDERATION IS BEING GIVEN BY THE INSTITUTIONS AND OTHERS CONCERNED TO THE INTRODUCTION OF PART-TIME UNIVERSITY DEGREE COURSES, AND TO THE INTRODUCTION AT THE POLYTECHNIC OF A LIMITED DEGREE COURSE AS WELL AS CONCENTRATION ON OTHER HIGHER LEVEL WORK.+

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