TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 195

2.14 Age structure

Paragraph 2.10 shows the normal age range

at each stage of the school structure. However, the actual

distribution of pupils by age does not conform to this pattern for

a number of reasons: for example, it is still permissible for a child

to enrol in a primary school up to 8 years and remain to complete his

primary course until the age of 14. Such late enrolment was formerly

common but is now rare; however, all primary pupils are permitted

to repeat one year if necessary and as a result, a considerable

number of children in the 12-14 age group are still in primary

schools. This figure is declining and the 1980 Green Paper on

Primary Education and Pre-primary Services contains proposals to

regularise the age structure further. (The number of pupils over

11 years of age in primary schools represented 8.3% of total primary

enrolment as at September 1980, compared with 9.4% in 1979, 10.8%

in 1978 and 13.2% in 1977.) The overall position as at September

1980 was as shown overleaf (figures for September 1979 in brackets):

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