No_2_1955 — Page 23

QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL. KOWLOON

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TTITI 1

BUE

Architects' lard's-eye" perspective of the new school.

Secondary school education has a funds spent on education were de- long history in Hong Kong: in a talk voted to Anglo-Chinese schools. For given at the Ladies' Day luncheon of a long time, the Government was Kowloon Rotary Club earlier this principally concerned with providing year, the Hon. D.J.S. Crozier. the Director of Education. said in re- ference to the early days of educa- tion in the Colony:

An up to date secondary school is at present under construction by Gov- ernment at the junction of Prince Edward Road and Sai Yee Street in Kowloon. The new school will be co- educational and will be named "The Queen Elizabeth School" with the gracious consent of Her Majesty in commemoration of Her Coronation of

1953.

the Colony with a sufficiency of English-speaking merchants, clerks and civil servants, leaving primary vernacular education largely in the The hands of private individuals.

"By far the greater part of public curious anomaly was thus allowed to flourish of maintaining at the tax- payers' expense a narrow utilitarian education for the children of the more well-to-do, leaving primary education, particularly the education of poorer children, with practically no supervision or official support of any kind.

Architects' sketch of the main entrance.

"Eventually, however, things began to right themselves, though the process took a long time. In 1913 the first Education Ordinance was passed which required that all schools should be registered and open to inspection. I believe this was the first piece of legislation in the Com- monwealth requiring the compulsory state registration of schools, and together with the opening of normal classes for the training of teachers, it did a great deal to correct the earlier ncglect. At the same time. a revised Grant Code was introduced which, in the case of Chinese boys. required that they should receive at least six hours instruction per week in their own language. The principle

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