TNAG-1449-FCO40-1953-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 102

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2.

In respect of schools, there is no official

prescription of individual schools operating times. However,

in areas where many schools are located, it is customary for

schools to stagger their operating hours to avoid traffic

congestion.

There are certain limitations in the staggering of

school hours. Primary schools which operate bisessionally have

to start between 7.45 a.m. and 8.00 a.m. to allow the afternoon

session to end at about 6.00 p.m. so that students of the

afternoon session do not have to finish school too late in the

day.

3.

The operating hours of the majority of the secondary

schools are already different from those of primary schools.

They normally start between 8.15 a.m. and 8.45 a.m. and finish

between 3.30 p.m. and 4.00 p.m.

It is undesirable for them to

start any later than 8.45 a.m.,

it would then be necessary

to curtail the time given to extra-curricular activities after

school..

4.

As regards private firms and factories, the

Government holds the view that it should be for the individual

managements to decide whether flexitime and staggered working

hours should be adopted in the light of their commercial needs;

it is of course a fact that many factories operate on a shift

basis which in itself is a form of staggered working hours.