TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 477

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sixth-form education very complicated. The HKEA's independent status

should eventually place it in a good position to act as a unifying

force in the fragmented post-Form V sector, and the Report of the Board

of Education's Committee on Sixth-Form Education (described later)

makes proposals about how this can be achieved.

22.

The standard achieved in each

The Hong Kong Certificate of Education examination (HKCE) is

intended primarily to be a test of general education for students who

have completed a recognised secondary school course of five years. It

is conducted annually according to regulations prescribed by the HKEA

in accordance with the provisions of the Hong Kong Examinations Authority

Ordinance 1977. The candidature is drawn from Form V/Middle V students in

schools which have been approved for participation in the examination;

students may also enter as Form VI/Middle VI or private candidates

under specified conditions. A wide range of subjects is offered and

alternative syllabuses are available in many subjects. Form V/Middle V

candidates are required to enter for at least five but not more than

nine subjects at any one examination.

subject is recorded as one of eight grades of which A is the highest

and H the lowest. An average candidate who has satisfactorily completed

the approved course (normally five years) in a subject in a secondary

́school might be expected to achieve grade E or above. Many overseas

authorities now accept a grade C in most of the main subjects as being

equivalent to a pass in the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary

Level) examination, with which the HKCE has close affinities in terms

of its general organisation and objectives. The HKCE was originally

organised as two separate examinations, one in the medium of English

for Anglo-Chinese schools and the other in the medium of Chinese for

Chinese middle schools: these were later amalgamated in order to give

all participating schools complete freedom of choice in the language

medium to be used for teaching and examining. Apart from those subjects

which by their nature are language-based (e.g. English literature, Chinese