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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1935

VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION PROVIDED AT ALL LEVELS

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VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION IS BEING PROVIDED IN BOTH SCHOOLS AND AT THE TERTIARY LEVEL, THE SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER, THE HON J.N. HENDERSON, SAID IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY.

IN REPLY TO A QUESTION BY THE HON YEUNG PO-KWAN, MR HENDERSON SAID ART AND CRAFT AND ART AND DESIGN WERE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS ON THE BASIS THAT CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR THROUGH OBSERVATION, TACTILE EXPERIENCE AND SIMPLE, PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES, WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF EDUCATION.

+ THE SYLLABUSES ARE DESIGNED TO CULTIVATE AESTHETIC APPRECIATION AND DEVELOP A PUPIL'S IMAGINATIVE AND CREATIVE POWERS, THROUGH USE OF A WIDE VARIETY OF MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES, WITH EQUAL EMPHASIS PLACED ON THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND AN APPRECIATION OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT, HE SAID.

ART AND CRAFT WAS TAUGHT IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND THE SYLLABUS COVERED PICTURE-MAKING THROUGH DRAWING, PAINTING AND COLLAGE, PRINT-MAKING, BASIC DESIGN, THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORK AND ART APPRECIATION THROUGH AN INTRODUCTION TO BOTH CHINESE AND WESTERN

ART.

ART AND DESIGN WAS TAUGHT IN ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF JUNIOR

THE SYLLABUS SECONDARY AND ONE-THIRD OF SENIOR SECONDARY CLASSES. INCLUDED DRAWING, PAINTING, SCULPTURE, GRAPHIC DESIGN, CRAFTS, THREE-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN, CALLIGRAPHY AND LETTERING, AND ART APPRECIATION. MOST SCHOOLS FOLLOWED THE RECOMMENDED ALLOCATION OF THREE PERIODS PER WEEK FOR THIS SUBJECT.

SINCE 1981. MR HENDERSON SAID, ALL PUBLIC SECTOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS HAD BEEN PROVIDED WITH A SPECIAL ROOM FOR ARTS AND CRAFTS. IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS, WELL-EQUIPPED ART ROOMS WERE A FEATURE OF THE CURRENT DESIGN.

+WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THESE NEW SYLLABUSES IN 1979 AND IMPROVED RESOURCES AND FACILITIES IN SCHOOLS, THERE HAS BEEN A TEN-FOLD INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PUPILS TAKING ART IN THE CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION EXAMINATION IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS.

+ART IS ALSO OFFERED AS A SUBJECT IN THE HIGHER LEVEL EXAMINATION AND THERE ARE PLANS TO OFFER IT AT ADVANCED LEVEL IN THE FUTURE,+ MR HENDERSON SAID.

AS REGARDS THE TERTIARY SECTOR, MR HENDERSON SAID BOTH UNIVERSITIES HAD DEPARTMENTS OF FINE ARTS PROVIDING UNDER-GRADUATE TRAINING AIMED, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO PROMOTE A GENERAL APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE VISUAL ARTS AND TO PROVIDE KNOWLEDGE OF MAJOR TRENDS IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE VISUAL ARTS IN BOTH EAST AND WEST.

/THE CURRENT