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Chapter 7.

SOCIAL SERVICES.

EDUCATION

The System and the Schools.

The

Education in Hong Kong is voluntary and is largely in the hands of Government and of missionary bodies. present system may be said to have started in 1913 when the Education Ordinance from which the Director of Education derives his legal powers came into operation. Under this ordinance all schools unless specifically exempted are required to register with the Director of Education and must comply with the regulations made under the ordinance governing staff, buildings, number of pupils and health. In 1920 Gov- ernment set up the Board of Education of which the Director of Education is the ex officio chairman. The present constitu- tion of the Board is seven official and ten unofficial members. The schools in the Colony may be classified as follows:- (1) Government Schools which are staffed and maintained

by the Education Department;

(2) Grant Schools which are schools run mainly by missionary bodies with the assistance of a grant from Government under the provisions of the Grant Code;

(3) Subsidized Schools which are those schools in receipt of

a subsidy from Government under the Subsidy Code; (4) The Military Schools and certain others which are exempted from the provisions of the Education Ordin- ance, 1913;

(5) All other private schools.

Under the terms of the Grant Code introduced in 1941 and modified slightly in 1946 Government pays the difference between approved expenditure and income of the grant-aided schools. Approved expenditure includes all salaries, inciden- tals, other charges, passages and leave pay for teachers entitled to them, and the rent of school premises. In the case of a grant-aided school which owns its own building the approved expenditure may include a percentage, not exceed- ing 3 per cent. of the capital value of the building, to be used solely for the purpose of a rebuilding fund. Grants may also be made up to 50 per cent. of the cost of new buildings and of major repairs. Local teachers in grant-aided schools receive the same salaries as those in equivalent grades in Government schools, and those with approved British or American qualifi- cation receive the Burnham scale of salaries irrespective of race or nationality, together with an overseas allowance in the case of those not normally domiciled in the Far East. Five per cent, of their salary is deducted and paid into a provident fund, to which Government contributes another 5%, since these teachers do not come under a Government pension scheme. The objects of the Subsidy Code under which subsidized schools operate are three-fold: (a) to