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consulting the schools councils and sponsoring bodies on
matters of communication, and we hope that the necessary
measures for improvement will soon be implemented.
56.
Parents can contribute to the successful and
harmonious operation of a school. We recommend that the
establishment of Parent-Teacher Associations in schools be
encouraged so that parents may have more contacts with
teachers and school management and thereby hopefully would regard the school as more than just a place where their
children are being looked after by somebody else.
57.
Finally, we would like to urge the Education Department to examine whether it has sufficient capabilities in responding to grievances. In a progressing community
like Hong Kong, with the steadily rising level of education,
there is an inevitable trend of rising expectations and
increasing social awareness. This trend has to be recognised
Grievances, real or imagined, often have
and accommodated.
the potential to develop into states of confrontation and
must not be left to ferment, especially at school level.
It is important to ensure that officers in the Department
having to handle grievances at all levels are appropriately
equipped in their judgement and ability to grasp, at the grass-root level, attitudes and feelings of the community
they serve. Whilst aided schools are not directly operated
by Government, the Education Department is the statutory authority ultimately responsible for education in this sector.
Demand on the Department to resolve conflicts and grievances
will continue to exist and we recommend that the Department
review its capabilities of meeting this demand so as to
maintain the credibility of the Government and the community's
confidence in it.
/IX
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