TNAG-1361-FCO40-1807-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 350

commencement. It is important to recall that the Panel

of Visitors' report, called a "Perspective on Education

in Hong Kong", did not make specific recommendations as

such but referred to their observations as "desirable

- directions" in co-ordinated educational policy

planning. The Education Commission has approached its

specific initial task in the context of the overall

preamble to its terms of reference, that is "to give

consolidated advice on the education system as a whole

in the light of the needs of the community" and in the

light of its specific terms of reference "to

formulate education policy and recommend priorities for

implementation having regard to resources available

and also "to co-ordinate and monitor the planning and

development of education". It is therefore to be

"

understood that the report puts forward co-ordinated

planning in the "desirable directions" indicated by the

Panel of Visitors and with due regard for what is

capable of accomplishment, balancing community needs and

resources; in Dr Ho Kam-fai's words, "recommendations

(which) are practicable and congruent with the social

and economic realities of Hong Kong". If this has

resulted in a report that is "less dramatic" than some

would have hoped or less magnificent than some would

have wished, I for one make no apology, for what was