TNAG-1610-FCO40-22132-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 87

35

percent

budget, we have 100 provision of free places up to Form (that is to the age of 15) and plan to provide enough places in senior secondary forms and technical institutes to meet the expected demand. We also have ambitious plans for growth in the tertiary sector. None of this can be provided cheaply. The cost of education to the public purse will continue to grow.

70.

Such rapid growth has meant that

that in recent years the emphasis has been on providing as many places as possible. Even so, the standards achieved in public examinations have been maintained. Increasingly in the future we should place the emphasis on further improving the quality of our education.

71.

(b) Schools

One problem we have had to face in planning our school system, including the school building programme, is the changing distribution and demographic composition of the population, especially with the development of the

/new

towns