ENG-1987 — Page 141

EDUCATION

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government, has 15 fully-equipped workshops/special rooms with a total maximum weekly enrolment of 9 600. Courses offered include Design and Technology (Woodwork, Metal- work and Plastics), Home Economics (Cookery, Needlework) and Art and Design (Painting, Pottery and 3-Dimensional work). Schools which lack either the facilities or trained staff to run the courses are encouraged to send students to attend courses at the centre free of charge. Courses are provided for students at Secondary 1 to 3 levels and may be extended to Secondary 4 and Secondary 5 levels at a later date.

The Careers Education Section of the department promotes the development of careers education and student guidance in secondary schools. During the year, it continued to work closely with the Labour Department and the Careers Division of the Hong Kong Association of Careers Masters and Guidance Masters to provide a comprehensive service for young people. The section also co-operates with the Guidance Division of the association and school social workers in providing guidance services to secondary school students.

Special Education

The provision of special education continued to develop in line with the objectives of the White Paper on Rehabilitation published in 1977 and subsequent annual reviews of the Rehabilitation Programme Plan. A total of 13 516 special places for handicapped children was provided in 1987.

There were 71 special schools providing 8 496 places for the more severely handicapped. These schools provided special education for the blind, the deaf, the physically handicap- ped, the mentally handicapped, the maladjusted and socially deprived and children with learning difficulties. Some 830 residential places were provided in boarding sections of 15 special schools. In addition, there were 337 special education classes in ordinary schools providing 5020 places for the partially sighted, partially hearing, and children with learning difficulties.

A three-year pilot scheme, launched in 1985 to provide remedial support for mildly disabled children integrated in non-profit-making kindergartens, was in progress.

Intensive remedial services were also provided by the Special Education Section of the Education Department for children with learning difficulties and adjustment problems in ordinary classes. These services included remedial support outside school hours in resource teaching centres and adjustment units, a peripatetic teaching service in ordinary schools during school hours, and advisory services to schools.

Screening and assessment services were provided to identify special educational needs among school-age children so that remedial action could be taken as early as possible. Primary 1 pupils are screened under the combined screening programme with screening tests for hearing and eye-sight. This programme also provided checklists and guides for teachers to detect children with speech problems and learning difficulties. Pupils requiring further assessment were given audiological, speech or psychological assessment while those in need of remedial services such as speech and auditory training, speech therapy and counselling were given such services at the Special Education Services Centres. An earmould laboratory was run in one of the centres to provide earmoulds to hearing- impaired pupils.

A centralised braille production centre, established in late 1986, and operated by the Hong Kong Society for the Blind under government subvention, produced braille reading material, including textbooks, and carried out research to improve braille production in both English and Chinese.