Kindergartens
1.4
Children attending kindergartens by far outnumber those attending child care centres. About 55% of children aged 3 and nearly 90% of those aged 4 and 5 are enrolled in kindergartens, bringing total enrolments to around 190,000 in September 1979.
1.5
Kindergartens are registered as schools under the Education Ordinance. They are all privately run and except for the few non-profit- making kindergartens which are given rates assistance the rest do not receive any financial support from the Government. The majority teach through the medium of Chinese, although there are a few English-medium kindergartens which are attended mainly by expatriate children. Most kindergartens are bisessional, though some receive the same children at both sessions, thus acting in effect as child care centres: There are a few full day kinder- gartens, most of which are in the rural areas.
Primary schools
1.6
Primary schools are designed to provide education for children in the age range 6-11. In 1971, education for local children in that age range was made universal, compulsory, and apart from English-speaking schools catering primarily for children whose future lies outside Hong Kong, free. This meant that a child reaching the age of 6 by 1 September in any year had to attend primary school. However, children who reached this age by 1 January would also be allowed, but not compelled, to attend school the previous September.
1.7
In practice, children older than this also enter Primary 1 since until they enrol in a school it is difficult to trace them and persuade them to enter at the correct age. Furthermore, at the other end of the scale children far older than 12 still attend primary school. This is partly due to late entries, but also to the practice of repeating a year in a class when a child 'fails' end-of-year examinations.
1.8
Theoretically, a child may only repeat one year, but in practice, changing schools may make it possible for some pupils to repeat two or more years. There is thus a fairly wide age range of children in Primary 1 increasing towards Primary 6. Other factors aggravating the age structure are immigrants who can rarely be fitted in at their correct age level and school dropouts who are brought back into the system.
1.9
Most primary schools are subsidized and a few are run directly by the Government. In spite of an adequate provision of these free schools, some parents still prefer to send their children to private schools and at present 17% of primary schools are in this category.
THE QUALITY OF THE SERVICES AVAILABLE
Child care centres and kindergartens
1.10
The Child Care Centres Ordinance 1975 provides for the registration, control and inspection of child care centres and was brought into effect in June 1976. The statutory requirements and the Code of Practice for child
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