TNAG-0735-FCO40-939-Policy-objective-for-the-developing-of-Hong-Kong-in-the-1980-1978 — Page 210

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EDUCATION

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82

The next major field is education.

The great efforts

mad e over the last decade and a half have enabled us to

reach a point at which we can plan and define a full

provision for education.

We must do this because there

is nothing

-

after security subsistence and probably

housing that the population wants so much for itself

and its children, and because without it Hong Kong could

not grow as a successful centre of industry, commerce

and finance.

83 To recapitulate: We achieved universal and

compulsory primary education in 1971.

84 All pupils completing primary school last summer

are now being provided with Secondary Education places

to Form III. By next September we shall be making

education compulsory to 14 and by September 1980 we will

have achieved our goal of universal and compulsory

education to 15 or Form III.

8.5 With the prospect of virtually all the relevant

age group leaving Form III after nine years free and

compulsory education in 1981, we drew up plans to expand

and refashion senior secondary and tertiary education.

These plans were published as a Green

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