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ate secondary sch
cted a re- venue of US$27.2 million from fees alone d the other types some US$7 millio
Pressures. On the face of it, this colossal take of US$35 million .from fees alone should make secondary edu- cation not only an economically viable business but one that makes widespread social impact. Clearly it does not. Says Mr. Lao Chia-ching, vice-president of the Hong Kong Teachers' Association, "Because of high rentals, many private
schools are forced to apply for increases in tuition fees." It means secondary education will progressively become less and less accessible to the vast majority of middle-class children. Already, Hong Kong's Director of Education, Mr. J. Canning, ruefully admits, “Education is something for the few, the chosen few, the elite."
Understandably, the govemment is banking on a new policy to mend mat- ters. It hopes to provide three years of post-primary education for half the
children in the relevant age group by 1976. It will offer a place in a govern- ment or aided primary school for every child who seeks one. But the number of children receiving no education at all now is anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000. Sheer poverty compels these children to work in teashops and fac- tories, or as domestics, and thus support their families. They dare not seek the luxury of even subsidized education. Even so, the government hopes to dou- ble its expenditure to US$22.3 million
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