TNAG-0178-FCO40-214-Education-policy-1969 — Page 37

NOTES ON MEMORANDUM ABOUT EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS

IN HONG KONG HANDED BY THE Rev. G. L. SPEAK to

Mr. ANTHONY ROYLE, MP.

Much of Mr.Speak's memorandum is a statement of "problems demanding urgent solution"; little is devoted to practicable solutions. And unfortunately a great deal of it (e.g. the section on "The Department") is couched in intemperate language; we could not accept the denigratory terms in which it deals with the personalities involved.

2.

The paper fails to recognize :-

(a) The basic problem of the enormous numbers of children of

school age involved in relation to population. Hong Kong has over one million young people in courses of one kind or another, out of 3.0 million. Let us say, one child being schooled for every two economically active adults

at best. The ratio is probably even lower. This throws a very heavy burden on the economy and the revenues, and makes it essential to keep costs down if we are going to cover as many children as possible.

(b) But costs in Hong Kong are relatively high, especially in

(c)

so far as teachers salaries are concerned: and schools are built and equipped to high standards. Moreover, the pressure from the educator is always towards increasing costs. They refuse to face the fact that costs must be lowered (as the Marsh/Sampson Report recognized) if expansion is to take place.

The Department, operating as it does through many organizations (and people like Mr. Speak are convinced they can run better schools than the Government can and demand a great deal of freedom of action) cannot dictate but must try to accommodate all the (very diverse) views of parents, students, teachers, educators, school manage- ments and the organizations concerned. Getting any kind of a consensus is very difficult. Mr. Speak mentions the ill-fatedpolicy of trying to make the primary course run from 7-14 years of age instead of 6-12 and says that it was introduced "against the advice of many educators";

/ it could

12/2