XN000022-1983-11-09 — Page 10

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1983

9

HE SAID THAT HE SHARED MR CHEN'S WORRY THAT FORM 3 LEAVERS WERE NOT GOING TO TECHNICAL INSTITUTES FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AS INTENDED BY THE 1978 WHITE PAPER ON SENIOR SECONDARY AND TERTIARY EDUCATION. THE YOUTHS +PREFERRED TO VOTE WITH THE IR FEET+ BY GOING TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO ATTEMPT THE HONG KONG CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION EXAMINATION.

+THE SOLUTION IS OBVIOUSLY TO MAKE CRAFT EDUCATION IN THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTES MORE ATTRACTIVE, WHILE REFORMING THE CURRICULA IN FORM 4 AND 5 SO AS TO MAKE IT MORE RELEVANT TO THE INTERESTS, NEEDS AND ABILITY OF THE LESS ACADEMIC,+ MR HAYE DECLARED. HE SAID THAT HE HAD ALREADY MADE PROPOSALS ABOUT THIS TO THE DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING, AND THE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES.

MR HAYE SAID THE VIEWS OF MR CHEN AND MRS NG, WERE NOT UNTYPICAL OF THE DIVERSE VIEWS HELD BY RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE IN MANY COMMUNITIES AT THE TIME WHEN THE IR EDUCATION SYSTEMS REACHED THE SAME STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT AS OURS+.

+ KNOW OF NO COMMUNITY WHERE THERE IS MAJOR DISAGREEMENT ABOUT THE DESIRABILITY OF PROVIDING UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION AND UNIVERSAL JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION, MR HAYE SAID.

+ I KNOW OF MANY COMMUNITIES WHERE THE QUESTION OF GENERAL EDUCATION VERSUS VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY LEVEL HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF HEATED DEBATE, CENTRAL TO WHICH ARE THE ISSUES OF WHAT THE COMMUNITY NEEDS, WHAT THE COMMUNITY WANTS AND WHAT THE COMMUNITY CAN AFFORD.

+I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OVERALL REVIEW OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR HONG KONG TO ARRIVE AT A STRATEGY FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT WHICH WILL BE BEST SUITED TO OUR CIRCUMSTANCES.+

MR HAYE SAID THAT HE HAD TO CORRECT THE IMPRESSION MR CHEN MIGHT HAVE GIVEN THAT THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN HONG KONG HAD SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF ITS QUANTITATIVE EXPANSION.

+IT IS IMPORTANT TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN QUALITY' AND 'ACADEMIC STANDARDS',+ MR HAYE SAID.

+COMPARED WITH 10 YEARS AGO, OUR SCHOOLS NOW HAVE MUCH BETTER FACILITIES, MORE AND BETTER-TRAINED TEACHERS, A BROADER AND MORE RELEVANT CURRICULUM AND MUCH GREATER FINANCIAL SUPPORT. +

SCHOOLS COULD NOW ALSO BENEFIT FROM AN EXPANDED EDUCATION TELEVISION SERVICE, SYSTEMATIC RETRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR TEACHERS, THE SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK SCHEME AND THE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR LANGUAGE PACKAGE. TO NAME BUT A FEW OF THE MANY INITIATIVES TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT IN RECENT YEARS, HE SAID.

HE THEREFORE FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT THE VIEWS THAT THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN HONG KONG HAD BEEN DETERIORATING, HE SAID.

I DO AGREE HOWEVER THAT OVERALL ACADEMIC STANDARDS MAY APPEAR TO BE LOWER SIMPLY BECAUSE SOME CHILDREN WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN DENIED A JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACE ARE NOW IN SCHOOL.

/+OVEX DU,

Page 10Page 11