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by 1976 and provide more subsidized places in government and aided primary schools in preparation for dispensing with the fees altogether eventually.
Hollow. Right now, nobody dare predict when and whether at all Hong Kong will ever have free and compul- sory education. Nor is there a precise estimate of the number of children who have or should have a right to educa- tion. Any fair guess must also provide for the thousands of children deprived of education by the closure of private schools or given the dubious privilege of studying in roof-top schools.
Worse still, even the philosophy of free or assisted education rings hollow. In many a family children are the bread- winners. Great many others simply cannot afford to send their children to school. Official sources say an average low-income family comprises about six persons huddled in a cubicle or a hovel, and living on the meager earnings of both parents. In fact, there are indica- tions that this sector of society is head- ing toward a crisis that is bound to ex- plode by 1976.
Victims. There are other painful aspects of the education system in Hong Kong, even if some private schools want to be altruistic. The supervisor of a large and respected Chinese primary school says, "Our school gives aid in spite of the fact that our income is barely suffi- cient to meet our operating expenses, hire good teachers, repay our loans to the government.” He adds that all of his 1,100 pupils will benefit from subsidiz- ed education, but they are frequently denied the opportunity because they cannot pass the "illegal" entrance ex- aminations. This view is echoed by many impartial bodies. The Hong Kong Civic Association sponsored a survey in May this year and found most private schools would have to pay higher rents this year or simply pull down their shut- ters. Incidentally, suitable textbooks are becoming both scarce and expensive, with prices up 10% since July. Second- hand bookshops are crowded with child- ren exchanging their old books.
Who are the victims of the rat race that education has become in Hong Kong? Children, yes. But more grievous- ly so will be those near-sighted business- mon who wail about the shortage of skilled labor. They are long on ambi. tions. They are caught in competition. Yet, why are they so short on philan- thropy? In their interest, it is time they recognized education as a noble and pro- ductive investment in the future. N
October 1970
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