ENG-1966 — Page 56

EMPLOYMENT

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of vocational training, mainly for the under-privileged or physically disabled. In order to co-ordinate such training programmes, the government, on the advice of the Industrial Training Advisory Committee, has created a functional committee to which appoint- ments were made in December 1966.

The Hong Kong Technical College is the principal government institution providing technical education at technologist, technician, craft and pre-apprentice or pre-craft levels. There are, in addition, six government secondary technical schools, two non-government institutions providing technical education for boys at secondary level, and three secondary modern schools-which provide three years of secondary education with a practical bias. There are also a number of courses in private schools for aircraft pilots, radio operators, radio technicians, typists, stenographers, book-keepers, dressmakers and tailors, artists, shoe-makers, rattan-workers, printers, wood-workers, painters, motor-car drivers, etc.

Apprenticeship systems in Hong Kong fall into either the tradition- al sector or the modern westernized sector. The latter system, based on the British pattern of craft apprenticeship, is followed by govern- ment workshops and some of the larger industrial concerns, and a special feature is the award of overseas training opportunities to outstanding technical apprentices who have completed their local training. The Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company Limited, the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company Limited, and the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited train substantial numbers of apprentices, while some public utility com- panies train a small number.

In many Chinese factories run on traditional lines, the recruit- ment of apprentices is haphazard. No minimum qualifications are required and apprentices are usually engaged after introduction by relatives or acquaintances. Generally speaking, theoretical in- struction is seldom provided and little encouragement is given to apprentices to attend part-time classes in related technical subjects. They are left to pick up their skills by watching and imitating experienced artisans. Thus the skills acquired vary according to the pupils' intelligence and the instructors' willingness and ability to teach and explain. In recent years the number of people seeking