TNAG-0799-FCO40-1003-Dispute-over-closure-of-Precious-Blood-Golden-Jubilee-Second-1978 — Page 37

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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

maintain the credibility of the Government and the community's

confidence in it.

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