XN000022-1987-06-03 — Page 25

23

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1987

IN ADDITION THE SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES ALLOCATION SYSTEM TRIED TO ENSURE THAT A STUDENT WAS ALLOCATED A PLACE IN AN AREA AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO HIS HOME OR IN A LOCATION CONVENIENTLY BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT, HE ADDED.

SERVED

"UNFORTUNATELY THESE ROUTINE MEASURES DO NOT ALWAYS PREVENT SERIOUS IMBALANCES FROM OCCURRING," MR PAGLIARI SAID.

THE EMERGENCE OF A SERIOUS SHORTAGE OF SECONDARY PLACES IN NEW TERRITORIES EAST CAME TO LIGHT IN MID-1985 WHEN THE GOVERNMENT CONSIDERED THE LOCATION OF 35 ADDITIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO BR BUILT IN THE PERIOD 1987-1993 AS RECOMMENDED BY THE EDUCATION COMMISSION AS PART OF A PACKAGE OF MEASURES DESIGNED ΤΟ PERMIT THE PHASING-OUT OF THE JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSESSMENT IN 1991, HE NOTED.

HENCE, 11 OF THE 35 ADDITIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS WERE ALLOCATED TO THE EASTERN NEW TERRITORIES WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CONSIDERATION WAS BEING GIVEN TO FURTHER MEASURES TO COPE WITH THE KNOWN PROBLEM IN TUEN MUN, MR PAGLIARI SAID.

HE POINTED OUT THAT SHATIN WAS NOT AT THAT TIME CONSIDERED TO BE AS SERIOUS A PROBLEM AS TUEN MUN BECAUSE OF THE AVAILABILITY OF MASS TRANSPORTATION TO ADJACENT DISTRICTS IN NORTH KOWLOON WITH SURPLUS PLACES.

NEVERTHELESS, MR PAGLIARI SAID, THE PROBLEMS OF NT(EAST) WERE SUFFICIENTLY ACUTE TO CAUSE THE GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY BEGIN PLANNING FOR THE REPROVISIONING OF 11 SUB-STANDARD SCHOOLS FROM THE URBAN AREAS TO NT(EAST) BY 1992, IN ADDITION ΤΟ THE 11 SCHOOLS

ALLOCAED TO THE AREA.

DESPITE THESE MEASURES, UPDATED POPULATION PROJECTIONS BY AGE AND DISTRICT WHICH BECAME AVAILABLE EARLY LAST YEAR HAD REVEALED THAT THE SHORTFALL OF SECONDARY ONE PLACES IN THE BASTERN NEW TERRITORIES WOULD BE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN PREVIOUSLY INDICATED, RISING TO SOME 5,900 FORM ONE PLACES BY 1993.

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT THEREFORE WORKED OUT A NUMBER OF SHORT-TERM REMEDIAL MEASURES FOR SHATIN SIMILAR ΤΟ THOSE APPLIED SUCCESSFULLY IN TUEN MUN LAST YEAR, HE SAID.

THESE MEASURES, MR PAGLIARI SAID, INCLUDED REDUCTION IN THE PERCENTAGE OF DISCRETIONARY PLACES FROM 10 PER CENT TO FIVE PER CENT; ADOPTION OF A NEW CLASS STRUCTURE IN EXISTING AND ALL NEW SCHOOLS; AND ADVANCEMENT OF THE COMPLETION DATE AND THE OPENING OF NEW SCHOOLS.

IN ADDITION, A CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME WAS PROPOSED FOR FURTHER 12 SECONDARY SCHOOLS BY 1993 IN THE AREA, HE SAID.

A

/"THE COMBINATION ......