TNAG-1610-FCO40-22132-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 88

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new towns. This has, at times, created imbalances between the numbers of pupils and secondary school places in different areas; it has led to many children having to

travel considerable distances to school. This problem is being tackled. Some 10 new secondary and prevocational schools will be completed in time for the start of the

September 1988 term and an additional 70 by 1993. Most of them will be in the New Territories, particularly in

Tuen Mun and Shatin. In addition, some existing schools

will be moved from

from substandard premises in the urban areas to new buildings in the New Territories.

72.

A major challenge facing our schools in the

next few years is the language issue.

On the

recommendation of the Education Commission, the

Government are introducing a number of measures to

encourage the greater use of Chinese in the classroom.

But Hong Kong's continuing prosperity depends on its remaining an international centre. This means having a high standard of English. For this reason we have started a pilot scheme to provide secondary schools with native English speaking teachers from overseas and have organised language courses in the United

United Kingdom for local secondary school teachers of English.

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