TNAG-1012-FCO40-1262-Address-by-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong--at-t-1981 — Page 39

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SOCIAL PROGRAMMES

62.

I now turn to the social programmes.

Like the physical

development I have described their expansion too is planned. I have

already dealt with housing.

EDUCATION

63.

So first education. In a community evolving economically and

socially as fast as Hong Kong, obviously the evolution of education-must

be exceptionally fast too in terms of quantity, quality and Hong Kong's

needs. It is therefore not surprising that the subject should have

spawned 3 White Papers in the last 10 years or that in the same period

Government expenditure has increased by 550% in money terms. This must

be a field for persistent and imaginative innovation.

Pre-Primary and Primary Education

64.

Add ddie

To start at the beginning. The White Paper on Primary Education

and Pre-Primary services published in July put forward the first

comprehensive scheme for the development of kindergartens and child-care

centres. In Primary schools it envisaged in particular the reduction

of class sizes from 45 to 35 for schools adopting the activity approach

and to 40 for those following conventional methods. If approved by this

Council, these reforms will require 1,500 additional teaching posts.

Junior Secondary Education

65.

selt A

In Junior Secondary Education, as recently as 1971, subsidised

places were only available for 30% of the age group. Now it is free,

available, and compulsory for all. This was a giant step forward. But

/in.