TNAG-0334-FCO40-370-Visits-of-Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Af-1972 — Page 107

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general fee remission scheme and local education

a. bwances were considered by the Executive

Council and Finance Committee.

The outcome of

the discussions was to defer the proposals so that

further details of the costs of operating the

English-speaking schools could be made to Council

members. With this in mind, a Select Committee has

been appointed to enquire into the costs of operating

the English-speaking schools.

THE PRESENT POSITION

8.

The present position, therefore, is that

the Government is awaiting the Report of the

Select Committee who have been asked to complete

their enquiry by 31 March 1972. As Finance

Committee had approved the payment of a subsidy

to the English Schools Foundation sufficient to

meet recurrent expenses up to 31 August 1972, a

public announcement was made on 25 November to the

effect that higher fees would not be introduced

until 1 September 1972. These decisions have

gone far to soothe expatriate discontent, but the

latest view of the Governor is that officials in Hong

Kong do not believe the costs of English-speaking schools can be reduced either quickly enough or

sufficiently to solve the problem and that other

measures may still be required.

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