XN000022-1981-08-01 — Page 2

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1981

THE JSEA IN PERSPECTIVE

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THE JSEA NEEDS TO BE SEEN IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE, AN

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN SAID IN REPLY TO RECENT CRITICISMS OF THE NEW SELECTION AND ALLOCATION SYSTEM FOR FORM 111 LEAVERS.

+ONLY TEN YEARS AGO, IN 1971, THE GOVERNMENT WAS PROVIDING SECONDARY PLACES IN FORM FORM V FOR ONLY 20 PER CENT OF THE RELEVANT AGE-GROUP, AS RECENTLY AS FOUR YEARS AGO, IN 1977, NOT EVERY CHILD WAS GIVEN AN AIDED FORM PLACE+, THE SPOKESMAN SAID.

NOW, JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IS UNIVERSAL, FREE AND COMPULSORY, AND IN ADDITION THERE ARE AIDED FORM ÎV PLACES FOR ALMOST 60 PER CENT OF FORM 111 LEAVERS, NEARLY DOUBLE THE PROVISION LAST YEAR.

+ IT IS DIFFICULT TO FIND ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD WHERE THIS RATE OF EXPANSION IS MATCHED, THE SPOKESMAN EMPHASISED,

APART FROM THIS RAPID RATE OF EXPANSION, ANOTHER POINT WORTH REMEMBER ING IS THAT THE 1978 WHITE PAPER ON SENIOR SECONDARY AND TERTIARY EDUCATION ADVOCATED A POLICY OF DIVERSIFYING SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION. +THIS POLICY WAS ARRIVED AT AFTER TAKING

INTO CONSIDERATION ALL THE PUBLIC COMMENTS RECEIVED ON THE SPECIFIC QUESTION HOW MUCH SCHOOL EDUCATION FOR ALL? WHICH WAS POSED IN THE PRECEDING GREEN PAPER, THE SPOKESMAN SAID.

THE GOVERNMENT BELIEVED THAT EDUCATION AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY LEVEL SHOULD BE PROVIDED NOT ONLY IN SCHOOLS BUT ALSO IN OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS SUCH AS TECHNICAL INSTITUTES. THIS WOULD ENABLE THOSE STUDENTS WHO FOR ACADEMIC, FINANCIAL OR OTHER REASONS MAY PREFER TO PURSUE MORE VOCATION-BIASED COURSES.

IF PLACES IN THESE OTHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT, AS MANY AS 75 PER CENT OF FORM 111 LEAVERS WILL BE CATERED FOR THIS YEAR.

BY 1985, THE OVERALL PROVISION RATE WILL INCREASE TO 98 PER CENT, OF WHICH 75 PER CENT WILL BE AIDED FORM IV PLACES.

+GIVEN THIS POLICY OF DIVERSIFICATION OF SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION AND GIVEN THAT THERE ARE NOT YET ENOUGH PLACES IN OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO MAKE SELF-SELECTION BY STUDENTS POSSIBLE, THE JSEA IS NECESSARY AND IS THE FAIREST MEANS OF SELECTION DEVISED AFTER EXTENSIVE CONSULTATION WITH SCHOOLS AND EDUCATIONAL BODIES, THE SPOKESMAN ADDED.

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT BELIEVES THAT IT IS BETTER THAN A PUBLIC EXAMINATION WHICH WAS FIRST ADVOCATED IN THE 1974 WHITE PAPER ON SECONDARY EDUCATION.

COMMENTING ON THE ALLOCATION OF A NUMBER OF FORM I STUDENTS TO NEW SCHOOLS IN TUEN MUN, THE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THIS WAS DONE TO BE SCRUPULOUSLY FAIR TO THE STUDENTS CONCERNED.

/+THESE STUDENTS