XN000022-1995-03-01 — Page 48

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Reply:

(d)

Mr President,

(a)

how many teachers the Hong Kong Institute of Education plans to train in the teaching of Putonghua in each of the next three academic years?

The numbers of primary and secondary schools offering Putonghua as a subject in their curriculum in the academic year 1994-95, and their respective percentages out of the total number of primary and secondary schools in the territory are as follows:

Number offering Putonghua

As a percentage

Level

of the total

Secondary schools

173

38.3%

Primary schools

446

46.7%

(b)

(c)

(d)

The Curriculum Development Council recommended that Putonghua should be offered as an optional subject in the school curriculum taking into consideration the time constraint in the existing curriculum and the availability of suitable Putonghua teachers. The Education Department considers such advice realistic as it allows schools greater flexibility to offer a curriculum more suited to their own circumstances.

There is no formal qualification prescribed for teachers of Putonghua. The Education Department offers special training programmes for Putonghua teachers. Up to December 1994, 3377 serving teachers have been trained under these programmes. It is difficult to assess whether this number is sufficient to meet the demand as it is expected that more schools will want to offer Putonghua as a subject. Nevertheless, the Education Department is prepared to expand its on-going training programmes if there is any unmet demand.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education plans to train the following number of pre-service and in-service teachers in 1995-98: