TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 69

7.19

required provision of school buildings. To make all schools single sessional would involve high capital cost and suitable sites would not be available especially in the older urban areas;

(b) new primary schools in the new towns have been planned

on a bisessional basis;

(c) the general pressure for space is such that it is very

uneconomical to build relatively low buildings and then only use them for part of each day unless the need for so doing is absolutely essential. Since bisessional schools are working quite effectively and would be improved by the concept of one Head in overall charge already proposed in this Green Paper, single sessional operation could only be considered "desirable" in Hong Kong's circumstances.

It is however considered that the current trend towards unisessional- ism should be encouraged wherever possible, especially by ensuring that schools with insufficient pupils to operate bisessionally change to unisessional operation.

Closure of significantly under-utilised primary schools

7.20

It has been recommended that a full system of control should be introduced to ensure that Primary 1 classes will be filled to the agreed capacity. It is also possible to use such a system to close not only classes but also schools. It would appear to be highly desirable for schools which cannot be filled to be converted to single sessional operation, and, when the remaining one session is only partly filled, or if conversion to single sessional operation is not practicable, to be phased out and converted, where possible, into special schools.

7.21

When schools are closed, every effort will be made to find alterna- tive posts for the teachers concerned.

The Problem of Noise

7.22

The Government is particularly concerned about the problem in schools of noise due to traffic and aircraft. It feels that more work is required to evaluate the severity of the problem and that a pilot study should be launched to determine the most cost effective approach to reducing noise in classrooms to acceptable levels. In the worst affected classrooms i.e. those subjected to noise above a certain maximum level the following measures should be, considered:-

(a) if the school buildings are sub-standard, the school

could be closed down;

(b) if the school buildings are up to standard, classrooms

should be treated in accordance with the findings of the pilot study.

62