ENG-1952 — Page 122

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1952

(d) Grants of interest free loans to students wishing to enter the teaching profession, and the extension of the existing teacher training colleges so as to provide 300 non graduate teachers each year. This proposal is designed to attract graduates to the teaching profession.

(e) The establishment by the University of a Department of Extra-Mural Studies.

Besides giving generous subsistence for students at the training colleges Government provides scholarships to the University of Hong Kong where 55 students are entirely or partially maintained. One scholarship tenable at any British or Commonwealth University is awarded every three years; scholarships are also provided under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act, by the British Council and by the Federation of British Industries.

Progress can be seen in the endeavour to improve education for citizenship. It is the policy of the Government to link the rural schools more closely to the life of the community, not only by giving a rural bias to the syllabus but by encouraging the schools to become centres of community life. Civics is a subject in the English School Certificate Examination, new pamphlets on this subject have been issued in Chinese and English, and students and teachers in training are encouraged to appreciate the practical aspects as well as the ideals of social service. Planned visits to factories, newspaper offices and government institutions have proved to be of special interest and value. Educa- tion Week enabled the public to see the schools, and a U.N.E.S.C.O. Science Exhibition, with teachers and senior students demonstrating some of the basic prin- ciples of scientific knowledge, attracted nearly 10,000 visitors a day. A smaller exhibition on Human Rights was included in this United Nations project.

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