ENG-1959 — Page 146

EDUCATION

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Joint Entry Examination held in June 1959. Government scholar- ships and bursaries are tenable for a four-year course at these institutions. The holders of bursaries take either an arts or science course and then receive a year's training at a government teacher training college. (See also under 'Higher Education.').

Special Afternoon Classes were formed in 1950 for the benefit of children who were unable to obtain admission to primary schools. They are of two hour's duration, cover general subjects, and are run through the co-operation of a large number of schools, mostly private. Enrolment in these classes, which in 1958 was 15,241, is now 13,156.

Training of Teachers. In 1959 the University of Hong Kong awarded 33 Diplomas of Education and twenty Certificates of Education to university graduates. 616 students from the two government training colleges passed their college examinations and 222 members of government in-service training courses for teachers passed the qualifying examinations. A special course for the training of kindergarten teachers was organized in 1958 and eighteen members are now in the second year of this course.

The total enrolment for full-time training courses in 1959-60 was 732; enrolment for in-service training courses for unqualified teachers was 1,260. The latter figure represents an increase of 729 over the figure for the previous year, and were due to the establish- ment of a new Evening Institute Course for Unqualified Teachers. In all, 17,878 teachers were in service at the end of March 1959; this figure is considerably higher than for 1958, due to the inclu- sion of part-time teachers in the total teaching staff.

A Professional Teachers' Training Board is responsible for dealing with general matters concerning teacher-training and ad- vises on the integration of teacher-training in government training colleges and the University.

Voluntary Education and Welfare Work is carried out by a wide variety of bodies in Hong Kong. The Kaifong (or Neighbourhood) Welfare Associations provide free schooling for poor children, and the British Red Cross Society organizes hospital schools for crippled children. There are schools for the deaf, for the blind