ENG-1990 — Page 30

SHAPING UP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

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we make. It is also because in this world of complicated negotiations on trade restrictions, our negotiators have established a reputation for ability that exceeds that of the enemy in technical competence and integrity.

I would like to say that the next century will see an end to restrictions on free trade. Our textile industry would not, because they have secure markets sewn up under restrictive agreements. Alas there is no danger that real free trade will burst upon us. The rich countries of the world are so beholden to their minute agricultural sectors that they cannot bring themselves to let their people eat cheap food produced by poor countries who have nothing else to sell. Until common sense succeeds here, their less important lunacy of insisting that their people dress in expensive clothes that they make themselves, instead of the sort of thing that China could churn out at a fraction of the price, will remain under the carpet.

This being so let us be thankful for the skill of our negotiators and the ingenuity of our industrialists who take every advantage of every loophole that these idiotic agree- ments offer.

Learning

Long-term sustained economic growth will need more investment in education.

Our education system has come a long way. The flood of post-war immigrants did not _include children, though the new arrivals lost no time in producing them. A great many children had no education at all. Welfare organisations set up clubs' which were not allowed to be called schools though a modicum of education was included. It was not until 1971 that there was a school place for all children of primary school age. The limited number of secondary school places were allocated after a competitive exam children took at the age of 11. Many children never got beyond primary schooling. There was a hiatus for these children because they were not allowed to work before they were 14. Juvenile crime was attributed to the gap but this turned out to be nonsense as the number of secondary school places increased and juvenile crime remained a problem. You could see change in education coming through. In the early seventies the police were delighted to find that many of their recruits had some secondary education. In 1978, it was at last possible to offer a school place for three years of secondary education to all children who wanted it.

Priority during the next 10 years was to get all the school places needed to ensure that everybody could stay at school until they were 15. Now 80 per cent of the 15 and 16 year age groups are in full-time education. As a short-term measure places were bought in private schools of less than satisfactory standards. By building 200 schools in 11 years it is now possible do without these bought places and private schools are being encouraged to upgrade with the assistance of a subsidy scheme.

University, polytechnic and a variety of post secondary education and training was not neglected though not of top priority. With the supply of places at secondary level at last adequate it was time to put a real push into the universities. Most people were so dazzled by the plans for the airport and infrastructure announced in 1989 that they did not notice that the Governor also said that the number of first degree places was to be doubled by 1995. This will mean enough places for six out of ten Secondary 7 leavers.

Now that there are enough secondary school places, the time has come to see whether improvements can be made in the education provided and the Education Commission is doing that. In November 1990, the Education Commission published a report dealing

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