XN000022-1987-02-18 — Page 23

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1987

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+THE COMMISSION HAS ALWAYS FULLY RECOGNISED THAT ALL EDUCATIONAL SECTORS ARE INTERLINKED IN IMPORTANT WAYS. CERTAINLY THE SENIOR SECONDARY AND TERTIARY SECTORS ARE RELATED, IN THE SENSE THAT IT IS WHILE THEY ARE IN THE SIXTH FORM THAT STUDENTS APPLY FOR TERTIARY PLACES,+ MR BRIDGE SAID.

+ IT IS FOR THIS REASON THAT THE COMMISSION'S REPORT NO. 2 EMPHASISE THE IMPORTANCE OF INTRODUCING THE CENTRALISED ADMISSION SCHEME.

+ BUT THE COMMISSION BELIEVES, I THINK RIGHTLY, THAT IT IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT ESSENTIAL TO TREAT THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF THE SIXTH FORM AND OF THE TERTIARY SECTOR SEPARATELY. ONLY ABOUT FOUR PER CENT OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE APPROPRIATE AGE GROUP GO TO ONE OF THE FIVE UPGC FUNDED INSTITUTIONS.+

MR BRIDGE SAID THAT IN VEIW OF PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE PROPOSAL BY THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG TO CHANGE TO A FOUR-YEAR PROGRAMME, THERE MIGHT BE A CASE FOR REQUESTING THE COMMISSION, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE UPGC, TO CARRY OUT A STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE OF TERTIARY EDUCATION SOONER RATHER THEN LATER.

ON THE SUGGESTION OF HAVING ANOTHER +OVERALL REVIEW+, MR BRIDGE POINTED OUT THAT IT WAS ONLY FIVE-AND-A-HALF YEARS AGO THAT THE LLEWELYN REPORT WAS PUBLISHED, AND THAT REPORT HAD REVIEWED THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN ITS ENTIRETY.

FURTHERMORE, THE EDUCATION COMMISSION HAD, SINCE THEN,

PUBLISHED ITS REPORT NO. 1 AND NO. 2. TO BEGIN YET ANOTHER OVERALL REVIEW COULD ONLY BE ACHIEVED AT THE PRICE OF SERIOUS AND CONTINUED DISRUPTION TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM, HE SAID.

IN ANALYSING RESPONSE TO THE EDUCATION COMMISSION'S NO. 2 REPORT, MR BRIDGE NOTED THE RECOMMENDATION THAT THE NUMBER OF PUBLIC SECTOR SIXTH FORM PLACES SHOULD BE FIXED AT ONE FOR EVERY THREE FORM 4 PLACES TWO YEARS EARLIER HAD NOT ATTRACTED SIGNIFICANT CRITICISM.

THE PROPOSAL TO ABOLISH THE HIGHER LEVEL EXAMINATION WAS WIDELY WELCOMED AS THE EXAMINATION INCREASED THE SCHOLASTIC PRESSURE ON SIXTH FORM STUDENTS AND CONTRIBUTED TO THE QUALIFICATION RECEIVING LITTLE RECOGNITION IN HONG KONG OR OVERSEAS.

THE REPORT ALSO RECOMMENDED THAT NEW AND LESS ACADEMIC SUBJECTS SHOULD BE INTRODUCED INTO THE SIXTH FORM CURRICULUM TO BROADEN THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE OF THAT VERY LARGE NUMBER OF SIXTH FORM STUDENTS WHO DID NOT GO ON TO ANY FORM OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

/+THIS PROPOSAL