TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 210

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(e) at age 17: selection for sixth-form education

by means of the Hong Kong Certificate of

Education;

(f) at age 18: selection for entry to the Chinese

University of Hong Kong by means of the Hong

Kong Higher Level examination;

(g) at age 19: selection for entry to the University

of Hong Kong by means of the Hong Kong Advanced

Level examination.

As noted in paragraph 2.14 above, the actual age structure varies

widely from the norm. The admission tests characteristic of stages

(a) and (b) have developed within individual schools and are without

official sanction, being considered by the Education Department

to be unnecessary and harmful in their effects: the 1980 Green

Paper proposes a centrally-controlled method of allocating children

to primary schools and this, if implemented, should also relieve the

pressure on kindergarten entry. Stages (c) and (d) are under the

administrative control of the Education Department. Stages (e)

(g) are carried out by the individual institutions concerned on the

basis of examinations now under the control of one central authority,

the Hong Kong Examinations Authority. The four final stages, (d) –

(g), serve several different purposes, as do comparable procedures

in education systems elsewhere, being used both as terminal

assessments for those who leave the system at these points and as

entry qualifications for a wide range of employment or further

education courses in various institutions. In addition, the vast

majority of schools hold full-scale examinations at least twice a

year and formal or informal tests at regular intervals (in some

cases monthly or even weekly). A detailed account of selection

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