ENG-1965 — Page 112

EDUCATION

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To bring on to the list of aided primary schools a number of non-profit-making private schools as well as private sessions of many existing subsidized schools;

To double the amount of money which the government con- tributes annually to the provision of free places in primary schools; to return to the age of six as the minimum age of admission to government and aided primary schools, and to introduce a new sixth year of basic education;

To provide government and aided secondary school places, or subsidized places in selected private schools, for 15 to 20 per cent of all primary school leavers, including a minimum of between 1,500 to 2,000 new subsidized places annually in private secondary schools;

To increase the standard tuition fees in government and aided secondary schools, and simultaneously to increase the rates of remission of fees;

To discontinue, eventually, Special Forms I and II for pupils completing their primary course, and to establish one-year or two-year courses in vocational training centres;

To standardize the length of full-time training for non-graduate teachers at two years, with facilities for a third year of special- ized training in certain subjects, and to lengthen part-time in-service courses by one year;

To introduce fees of $400 per annum for the two-year course in government teacher training colleges, with a scheme of interest-free loans to students of up to $1,200 per annum in addition to maintenance grants of up to $1,600 per annum; To introduce an 80 per cent capital grant for aided secondary schools approved by the government; and

To extend and quantify the amount of assistance to be given to private non-profit-making schools.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Most primary schools are Chinese, with Cantonese as the language of instruction. English is studied as a second language from the second year of the course. In September, the first stage began of a return to six years as the minimum age of admission in government