ENG-1974 — Page 111

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EDUCATION

The Certificate of Education examination and the secondary school entrance examination are processed with the help of the government computer, which also marks such papers in these examinations as are set in the multiple-choice format. The computer also allocates secondary school places to pupils who have taken the secondary school entrance examination in accordance with their results and their stated preferences.

The Education Department provides a local secretariat for various examining bodies in Britain and elsewhere and so makes available to students in Hong Kong many overseas examinations, academic and professional, at standards comparable with those in Britain. These examinations include the General Certificate of Education, which is open to both school and private candidates who hold a Certificate of Educa- tion of the required standard, unless they have reached the age of 23, in which case no entry qualification is required. Appendix 20 shows the more important overseas examinations held in Hong Kong and the number of candidates entering for them.

Educational Television

The Educational Television Service (ETV), now reaching the final phase in the first stage of development, covers the third, fourth, fifth and sixth years of primary education in the four basic subjects of Chinese language, English language, math- ematics and social studies. The total audience is about 440,000 children and 10,000 teachers. Since the opening of the ETV series in September 1971, more than 3,000 television receivers have been installed in primary schools at a total cost of about $5 million.

ETV programmes, which are produced in the ETV Centre at Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, and transmitted by the two commercial television stations between 8 am and 5 pm Monday to Friday, are based on syllabuses in use in primary schools and are designed to complement and supplement classroom teaching. Notes for teachers and pupils accompany each programme and demand careful preparation and follow- up. Evaluation is supplied by teachers, questionnaires, visits to schools by ETV producers, and reports from inspectors of schools.

Music

Throughout the year more than 500 primary and secondary school music teachers attended a series of refresher courses and music workshops organised by the music section of the Education Department. Three of the workshops for secondary school music teachers dealt with choral and instrumental music with particular reference to their use as an extra-curricular music activity.

By arrangement with the Goethe Institute, Professor Hermann Regner and Pro- fessor Barbara Haselbach from the Mozarteum in Salzburg conducted a seminar in September for music students from the college of education on the Orff-system of tuition.

The 26th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival attracted 3,872 entries and an estimated 25,000 competitors took part in 320 classes.