XN000022-1995-10-25 — Page 44

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Reply:

Mr President,

(a) Under the existing policy, the provision target of subsidised Secondary 4 places is 85%. Allocation of subsidised Secondary 4 places is made on a territory-wide basis, based on academic performance and parental choice. During the 1995 Junior Secondary Education Assessment (JSEA) exercise, 5 349 out of 64 265 (8.3%) Secondary 3 students were allocated subsidised Secondary 4 places in schools outside their own attending school districts i.e. districts in which the students attended Secondary 3.

(b) In 1995, 14.9% of students in new towns were allocated subsidised Secondary 4 places outside their own attending school districts. Although this is higher than the territory-wide average mentioned in paragraph (a) above, the majority of these cross-district allocations have been made to the neighbouring districts, as illustrated below:

Number of students (percentage) allocated to

their own attending school

District

districts

neighbouring districts*

Hong Kong Island

Outlying Islands

North

1,887 (87.77%)

59 (2.74%)

14 (0.65%)

16 (0.74%)

Yuen Long

2,730 (92.76%)

31 (1.05%)

21 (0.71%)

28 (0.95%)

Tuen Mun

5,066 (77.21%) 702 (10.7%)

77 (1.17%)

44 (0.67%)

(c) All allocations to the JSEA exercise including cross district allocations are based on expressed parental choice in a number of schools in order of preference which they wish their children to join having regard to the latter's academic performance; and