TNAG-1854-FCO40-2629-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 215

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 18 January 1989

香港立法局

————一九八九年一月十八日

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CHIEF SECRETARY: Sir, I have given the figure for the service as a whole. The directorate figure is about 1%.

Unification of pre-primary services

5. MR. HUI asked : Will the Government inform this Council what progress has been made by the Working Group on Pre-primary Services set up in 1986 to study the recommendation by the Education Commission in its Report No. 2 that specific plans should be developed to achieve unification of pre-primary services provided by kindergartens and child care centres?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, the Education Commission, in its second report, recommended that the unification of pre- primary services should be the goal, but that the first task in the process was to bring together the standards of kindergartens and child care centres. The working group set up in 1986 has been focusing on ways to raise standards in kindergartens, and I hope to have proposals ready for Executive Council within the next few months.

Once a programme of improvements to kindergarten education has commenced, the working group will be able to turn its attention to the longer- term question of whether all pre-primary services should be brought under the same regulatory framework.

MR. PAUL CHENG: Sir, in a reply to a related question I raised in this Chamber on 23 November last year, the Secretary for Education and Manpower told us that the 1984 Manual of Kindergarten Practice is being reviewed, and that measures will be recommended to improve the ratio of trained teachers and other issues. Will the Secretary inform this Council whether any progress has been made so far?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, I think this question goes a bit outside this question. It is in fact only a month or so since I gave my previous reply. I would not expect there to be any progress to report within that short period.

鄭德健議員問:主席先生,政府到目前為止,還未能統一由幼稚園及幼兒中心所提供的小學學前 服務,幼兒中心服務同時加插幼稚園的教學工作,以致部分幼稚園的學生人數減縮,變成經營成 本不足,政府有何方法去解決這問題?