TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 67

(b) a miniature hall on the first floor;

(c) open corridors, as distinct from the existing enclosed

central corridor design;

(d) a basket-ball court;

(e) car-parks for staff;

(f) shelves and a sink in each classroom;

(g) three special rooms for the teaching of cultural and

practical subjects.

7.10

As the size and facilities of classrooms are improved, the implemen- tation of the 'learning by doing' approach will be greatly facilitated. More- over, the design is such that if required it can be easily modified, at the planning stage, to accommodate physically handicapped children.

7.11

Classroom sizes are stipulated in Regulation 40 of the Education Regulations (1971) which specifies the minimum space requirements, and which. states that:-

"every classroom in the school premises shall have-

(i)

a floor space at least 1.5m in width for the use of the teacher extending along the length of the wall in front of the pupils;

(ii) an area of floor space of not less than 0.9m

for each pupil in the classroom.

2

In gractice the standard classrooms in existing estates with a floor area of 50m barely satisfy the minimum requirements for a class size of 45. However, with the proposed reduction to 40 the space per child will be adequate and it is therefore not proposed to change the legislation governing space require- ments. Because schools adopting the 'learning by doing' approach do not require a formal classroom arrangement the formula adopted for kindergartens which is 1.2m per child and 2.4m2 for the teacher (see para. 7.2) would appear to be more appropriate. Standard classrooms do, however, provide this amount of space for 35 pupils and it is therefore neither necessary nor desirable to change the legislation especially for these schools. However the kindergarten formula would be appropriate as a guide to the number of children to be allocated to schools with smaller classrooms, provided the legal requirements are met.

New Government primary schools

7.12

The present policy concerning the provision of Government schools was laid down in the 1965 Education White Paper which stated that, mainly for reasons of economy, "Government should provide schools only where an aided school cannot be provided". This policy has been strictly observed. However, since the implementation in 1972 of equal salary scales for teachers in Aided and Government schools, the differences in running costs between these

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