TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 395

A3.

4.

The commissioners endeavoured to balance the question 'What are

the educational needs of Hong Kong?' against the counter-question

'What can Hong Kong afford without having to face the possibility of

a material increase in taxation ?'; their chief concern was therefore

how best to secure value for money, given the premise that expenditure

on education and other services must increase. As a result, a good deal

of their Report was concerned with current problems of a technical or

financial nature, entailing a detailed analysis of government expenditure

on education. With the passage of time, many of their observations

recommendations are no longer relevant: the following summary therefore

refers (without accompanying detail) only to those recommendations which

subsequently affected the mainstream of educational development in one

way or another and in varying degrees

omitted.

5.

other recommendations are

Major recommendations and illustrations:

(i)

and

The main reasons for the substantial differences

in cost per pupil at government, grant and subsidised

schools are examined and the conclusion drawn that it

would be in the interests of education if greater

uniformity in government and aided schools could be

achieved. Of the primary school nlaces provided by

the government, approximately 25 per cent should be

in government primary schools, the balance to be in

aided schools and by an increasing provision of assisted

places in selected private schools. In the secondary

sector approximately 30 per cent of places awarded on

the basis of the Secondary School Entrance Examination

should be in government schools: the proportion of assisted

places in private schools should be gradually increased

(as private school standards improved) to about one-

eighth of the total, the balance to be provided in aided