XN000022-1983-10-26 — Page 8

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WILSDAY, OCR 26, 1983

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HE WONDERED IF SOME OF THEM WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER SERVED HAD THEY BEEN GUIDED TO TAKE UP VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR A CAREER IN INDUSTRY AS CRAFTSMEN OR TECHNICIANS.

MR CHEN EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT PARENTS' RELUCTANCE TO LET THEIR CHILDREN TAKE UP VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING AFTER COMPLETING FORM 1II.

+UNFORTUNATELY PARENTS, ESPECIALLY CHINESE PARENTS AND NOT INFREQUENTLY EVEN TEACHERS, HAVE A BIASED CONCEPTION THAT VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IS A SUB-STANDARD OPTION, FIT ONLY FOR THOSE WHO FAIL TO OBTAIN A PLACE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS, AND THAT THERE IS NO FUTURE IN THEIR CHILDREN BECOMING TECHNICIANS OR SKILLED CRAFTSMEN,+ MR CHEN REMARKED,

+ IT IS TIME THAT PARENTS SHOULD BE EDUCATED AND FACE THE REALITY THAT WE LIVE IN A MODERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY IN WHICH CRAFTSMEN PLAY AN IMPORTANT AND DOMINANT ROLE, HE ADDED,

HE WARNED THAT WITH THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF THE JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSESSMENT (JSEA), THE PRESSURE ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES WOULD EVEN BE HIGHER.

+UNLESS WE HAVE ADEQUATE RESOURCES TO MEET WITH THE ADDITIONAL SURGE IN DEMAND FOR FURTHER SUBSIDISED PLACES, THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IS BOUND TO FURTHER SUFFER, HE SAID.

HE SAID THAT HE WAS NOT OPPOSED IN PRINCIPLE TO THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF JSEA, BUT HE ADDED : +NEVERTHELESS, WE MUST BE MINDFUL OF THE POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AND REPERCUSSIONS WHICH THE ABOLITION COULD CREATE.+

MR CHEN ALSO EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT THE FUTURE ENROLMENT IN CRAFT COURSES OPERATED BY THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTES AND THE INCREASINGLY SMALLER NUMBER OF FORM 111 LEAVERS TAKING UP CRAFT APPRENTICESHIP.

IN THE CURRENT YEAR, 27 PART-TIME DAY-RELEASE CRAFT CLASSES HAD BEEN CANCELLED BECAUSE OF LACK OF APPLICANTS, AND THE PROPORTION OF STUDENT ENROLMENT IN THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTES FOR TECHNICIAN AND CRAFT COURSES WAS FAR FROM SATISFACTORY, HE SAID.

+FOR EXAMPLE, THE TECHNICIAN CRAFT RATIO FOR FULL-TIME COURSES IS AT PRESENT APPROXIMATELY 312. EVEN TAKING ALL MODES OF ATTENDANCE INTO CONSIDERATION, THE RATIO OF TECHNICAN TO CRAFT IS 213.

+THERE IS, THEREFORE, A HUGE BUILT-IN IMBALANCE WHICH WOULD AT THE END OF THE DAY LEAD TO OUR INDUSTRIES HAVING AN INADEQUATE SUPPLY OF SKILLED CRAFTSMEN BUT FLOODED WITH TECHNICIANS SOME OF WHOM WOULD HAVE TO PERFORM CRAFT LEVEL WORK FOR WHICH THEY HAVE NOT BEEN TRAINED, HE SAID.

+THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF THE JSEA IS LIKELY TO WORSEN WHAT

AS IS ALREADY A SERIOUS SITUATION IN THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTES. THE POOL OF FORM 11 LEAVERS, OTHER THAN THE FEW FROM PREVOCATIONAL SCHOOLS FOR CRAFT COURSES WOULD BE COMPLETELY DRAINED. THE VERY SURVIVAL OF THE CRAFT COURSES IN THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTES AND CRAFT APPRENTICESHIP WOULD BE DANGEROUSLY THREATENED.

/+THIS WOULD ...............