CONFIDENTIAL
2 -
all cldren to receive 3 years of assisted or free secondary education by 1980.
4.
The next development was the Governor of Hong Kong's statement in the Legislative Council on 6 October last in which he said the immediate priority was to provide "9 years of education, including 3 years of secondary education, for all and within the means of all". He went on to say that the extra places needed to bring this about would be found by 1978. (The Governor did say that there was a shortfall in the provision of senior secondary education places, the 15-16 year olds, but that would be remedied).
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5. The latest statement of the position, apart from that to be derived from the figures provided by tir Ardley, is that contained in paragraph 14(c) of Hong Kong telegram number 214 on 2 March, which contains extracts from the Financial Secretary's budget statement today. This says that at the junior secondary level "the number of Form 1 places will be increased from the present 63,300 to 74,500 as a further step towards ensuring that by 1978 there will be sufficient such places to accommodate all primary 6 leavers". This statement is consistent with what was said in the Planning Paper with regard to the number of places to be made available in Form 1. It does not help to clarify the position as regards places in Forms 2-3.
6. In these circumstances, I think that there is a case for a letter being sent to the Director of Education along the lines of Mr Duffy's draft. We may have overlooked relevant statements and figures but I would not mind if we were to receive a reply from Mr Topley which suggested that we ought to have known the answers to the points we are raising.
2 March 1977
DF Milton
Hong Kong Department
OCDP) BESTELæk
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