ENG-1959 — Page 152

EDUCATION

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The last of these is taken for entry into Government and aided secondary schools. There were 3,090 Form I and Junior Middle I places available, an increase of 649, but this could hardly keep pace with the increase in the number of candidates. The number of Government scholarships awarded on the results of this Exami- nation was increased by 20 to 170.

There was a marked increase in the number of candidates sitting each of these examinations, as the following table shows:

Hong Kong School Certificate

No. of Candidates

Passed

Percentage

1958 1959

1958 1959 1958 1959

Day Schools

3,309

3,944

Night Schools

861

1,311

2,245

401

2,593

489

67.8 65.7

46.5 37.3

Hong Kong Chinese

2,118 2,316 7,573 10,246

69.5

71.0

School Certificate

Joint Primary 6 ...

1,477 1,644 2,441* 3,090* 31.7* 30.1*

* i.c. promoted to Form I/Junior Middle I in Government Schools and in the places available in aided schools.

Overseas Examinations. The Education Department organizes a number of examinations on behalf of examining bodies in the United Kingdom. These examinations, offering a recognized quali- fication, are increasingly popular and cover a wide range of subjects. (Appendix XII).

Technical Education. Government maintains a technical college, a secondary technical school for boys and another for girls. There in addition, a number of Government-aided and privately operated institutions for technical training.

are,

The new Technical College includes a large classroom block, a number of engineering laboratories and workshops, a machine and fitting shop, a foundry and blowroom, and spinning and weaving shops. An auditorium and students' canteen was com- pleted in January 1958. Three new buildings are still under construction: the China Light & Power Co. electrical laboratories, the Taikoo production engineering workshop and a pilot dyeing and finishing plant.

The College has at present 615 full-time and part-time day students, 6,670 evening students and a full-time staff of thirty nine assisted by 360 part-time lecturers. The day students are organized into Departments of Building, Mechanical and