ENG-1989 — Page 25

A VISION OF THE FUTURE

now. The UPGC is now working out how to meet these new targets. Among other things, we will probably have to bring forward plans for expanding our existing universities and increase the percentage of degree places offered at our polytechnics.

At the school level, there has been a great deal of concern in the community that the introduction of mass education has been at the expense of standards. There is some truth in this. In future we shall aim to concentrate on improving quality rather than giving top priority to increasing numbers. Major measures over the next few years which have already been announced include providing Secondary 7 classes in all types of secondary school and bringing in 'A' level examinations in Chinese. In my address to this Council last year, I mentioned the desirability of working towards whole-day schooling for all primary classes. This remains our long-term objective. But, given our other educational priorities, resource constraints and demographic trends, we need to be realistic about how quickly we can achieve it. Our first priority will therefore be a phased programme of converting senior primary classes to whole-day operation.

We are an international trading centre where the ability to use language well is a key ingredient of success. One important objective of our school system must therefore be to improve the standards of both English and Chinese. The government has already taken several significant initiatives. These have included sending large numbers of local teachers overseas for immersion courses in the English language and introducing a scheme to enable schools to employ expatriate teachers of English. But these measures are not enough. We need urgently to devise a strategy that will deal with the difficult problems of the medium of instruction and the quality of language teaching. The Education Department will soon publish for public consultation the report of a working group which has looked into these issues. After members of the public have had an opportunity to comment, proposals will be put to the Board of Education and the Education Commission early next year.

In Hong Kong, private secondary schools have generally not had the resources to compete with the public sector. This has meant a lack of variety and flexibility in the educational system. Good private schools can give special emphasis to specific areas such as languages or art. They also provide for the possibility of greater choice within the educational system. The government believes it important to increase parental choice by encouraging the development of a healthy private school sector in Hong Kong. To help achieve this, we will introduce a new Direct Subsidy Scheme. Schools which meet certain criteria will be eligible to join the scheme, and will receive government assistance at a rate which will depend on their fee income, with more going to those which charge less. They will, at the same time, be able to retain a great deal of freedom in deciding on curriculum, fees, management and the selection of pupils. The government will phase out bought places in private schools by the end of the 1990s. In the meantime, we will improve the standards of these schools so that, when the time comes, they will have a good chance of joining the new subsidy scheme.

We agree with the Education Commission that pre-primary education must be seen as a desirable rather than an essential part of our education system. But we see a clear need to improve standards of teaching in kindergartens. We therefore propose to improve the basic training course for kindergarten teachers and introduce a new fee remission scheme. This will replace the existing scheme of fee assistance and allow additional help to be given to less well-off parents who have children in kindergartens.

In laying down broad programmes for improvements to our educational system we must not overlook the special difficulties that individual schools face. Some for instance have severe problems of noise. We have already sound-proofed and air-conditioned 37 schools

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