TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 430

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1978. Covering the same range of topics as the Green Paper, the

White Paper noted that during the past two decades the government's

main priority in the development of education had been the progressive

extension of the period of universal education.

been to make primary education available to all.

The first aim had

The 1965 White Paper

This

had outlined a scheme for providing subsidised primary school places

for all who wanted them. By 1971 there were sufficient primary school

places for all children in the age-group; measures had then been taken

to make primary education free and compulsory. The main proposal in

the 1974 White Paner had been to extend universal education to junior

secondary forms. From 1978 all primary school leavers would be offered

three years of junior secondary education and tuition fees would be

abolished in junior secondary forms in all schools in the public

sector. The Director of Education's nowers to enforce school attendance

would be extended progressively until they covered children un to their

fifteenth birthday who had not yet completed Form III. Thus, every

Hong Kong child would have nine years of basic education.

would be universal, free and compulsory and would extend to his 15th

birthday or completion of Form III, thus enabling a child to remain

in school until he had attained an appropriate age for entering

industrial or general employment. Beyond this stage, education would

remain voluntary and would take diverse forms, to reflect the different

aptitudes and inclinations of students and their wish to study full-time

or on a part-time basis, in conjunction with employment. Some kind of

selection was necessary, as most of the courses available assumed some

level of previous attainment and were pitched at a standard which not

all students could meet. Therefore, places on these courses would be

provided only for a proportion of the population.

It was not the

intention to extend free education beyond the basic nine years, though

fee remission or grant and loan schemes would protect those who would