ENG-1980 — Page 102

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XXD

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Education

EDUCATION Continues to be one of the government's largest financial commitments, with some $2,943 million being spent in the category during the 1980-1 financial year. This represented 16.3 per cent of the total budget for the territory.

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One of the major achievements in education in 1980, was the extension of compulsory junior secondary education to all children up to 15 years of age. Correspondingly, the power of the Director of Education to serve attendance orders on parents was enlarged, in September, to cover children up to the age of 15 years who have not completed Form 3. Free and compulsory education is now available to school-aged children for nine years six years in a primary school and three years in a secondary school. Only a small number of children continue to pay for primary or junior secondary education either because they attend English schools intended primarily, although not solely, for the expatriate com- munity or because they choose to attend fee-charging schools even though free schooling is available.

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The 1978 White Paper on the Development of Senior Secondary and Tertiary education envisaged the building of 14 secondary schools - in addition to the 102 schools already in the building programme to meet the target of providing subsidised Form 4 places for about 60 per cent of the 15-year age group in 1981. However, the increased demand for school places resulting from immigration has made it necessary to plan for an additional 14 schools, bringing the number of schools in the building programme to 130 - 64 of which have been completed. In the year under review, 10 new secondary schools were completed and they provided an additional 11,520 secondary places.

In line with the recommendations of the 1978 White Paper, the three Colleges of Educa- tion and the Technical Teachers' College introduced, in September, a new three-year full-time initial teacher education course for students with Certificate of Education quali- fications. In addition, a separately structured two-year full-time course was started at Northcote College of Education for students attaining at least Grade E in two subjects at the Advanced Level Examination.

To simplify the existing secondary school structure and improve the quality of secondary education, 54 non-profit-making schools, some of which were originally receiving a per caput grant, were included in a scheme of phased conversion to fully-aided status operating under a common code of aid. The conversion in the way of financing these schools is expected to be completed in September, 1982.

A Junior Secondary Education Assessment Section was set up in the Education Depart- ment to implement the new system of selection and allocation for post-Form 3 education places which is to be introduced in 1981. Under this system, selection and certification will be based on internal school assessments made in accordance with a public monitoring test in the three basic subjects - Chinese, English and Mathematics. Allocation of subsidised