ENG-1993 — Page 180

EDUCATION

Over 115 training courses and functions at bronze, silver and gold levels were organised during the year.

The Lions Club Sister Schools Scheme matches ordinary and special schools, to promote social interaction and friendship among students. During the year, 57 ordinary schools and 46 special schools were made sister schools.

In the 1992-93 academic year, the music festival organised by the Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association attracted 72 800 participants from 925 schools, while 61 300 took part in the speech festival. The Schools Dance Festival drew entries from 4078 students in 228 primary, secondary and special schools. The Schools Drama Festival, organised under the guidance of the School Drama Council, encouraged drama pro- ductions involving about 8 400 students from 140 schools. Sporting activities organised by the Hong Kong Schools Sports Association and the New Territories Schools Sports Association attracted over 102 000 participants from more than 1200 schools. The Inter-Primary School Quiz Competition, a joint venture of the Education Department, Radio Television Hong Kong and the City and New Territories Administration, attracted participants from 27 schools.

Special Education

The main policy objective of special education is to integrate the disabled into the community through the co-ordinated efforts of the government and voluntary agencies.

Early -identification is an important preventive measure. Screening and assessment services identify special educational needs among school-age children, so that appropriate follow-up and remedial treatment can be given before problems develop into educational handicaps. Under the combined screening programme, all Primary 1 pupils are given hearing and eyesight tests. Teachers are provided with checklists and guides to help them detect children with speech problems and learning difficulties. Children requiring further assessments are given audiological, speech, psychological or educational assessments at special education services centres, or are referred for ophthalmic advice.

Children identified as having special educational needs are integrated into ordinary schools as far as possible. They are placed in special schools only when their handicaps are such that they cannot benefit from the ordinary school programme. There are altogether 62 special schools (including a hospital school) for children who are blind, deaf, physically handicapped, mentally handicapped, maladjusted, socially deprived, unmotivated, or who have severe learning difficulties. Seventeen schools provide residential places. In addition to teachers, special schools are staffed by specialists such as educational psychologists, therapists and social workers.

Special education classes in ordinary schools cater for partially-sighted and partially- hearing children, and children with learning difficulties. Services for children integrated into ordinary classes include remedial support, based either in special centres or special schools; a peripatetic teaching service; and advice for ordinary teachers on how to cope with handicapped students.

In general, special schools and classes follow the ordinary school curriculum, with adaptations or special syllabuses where appropriate to cater for the varied learning needs of the children. The Curriculum Development Council's special education co-ordinating committee, with members from government departments and schools, advises on special educational needs. Special schools give particular attention to daily living skills, and offer

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