ENG-1994 — Page 193

EDUCATION

schools completed a trial of the TOC on a voluntary basis, and in September, another 20 schools began a voluntary TOC co-operative scheme, to strengthen teachers' confidence and skills in developing and implementing the TOC.

A teaching kit on the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was issued to all primary schools in July to provide basic information and suggestions for learning activities. Primary schools do not at present have libraries, but the class library service provides supplementary reading materials to support learning, encourage the habit of leisure reading and pave the way for effective use of the libraries in secondary schools. In-service courses and seminars were organised for teachers on managing, developing and promoting the use of class libraries. The 1994 reading award scheme for Primary 5 and 6 attracted 63 000 pupils from 290 schools.

At the end of the primary course, students are allocated places in government or aided secondary schools, or offered bought places in private schools. The allocation system is based on internal school assessments scaled by a centrally-administered academic aptitude test, and on parental choice. For allocation purposes, the territory is divided into 19 school regions. Taking part in the 1994 exercise were 85 263 primary pupils, of whom 74 834 (87.8 per cent) were allocated places in government and aided grammar secondary schools, 4 808 (5.6 per cent) in prevocational schools, and 5 621 (6.6 per cent) in private schools in the Bought Places Scheme.

Secondary Schools

Universal free education was extended to junior secondary classes in 1978. After Secondary 3, the aim is broadly to meet the demand for places on senior secondary or vocational courses. In 1994, there were subsidised Secondary 4 places for 85 per cent of the 15-year-old population, with places for a further 10 per cent on full-time craft courses of vocational training. The target for sixth form provision is to provide one public sector Secondary 6 place for every three public sector Secondary 4 places two years earlier.

There are three main types of secondary schools: grammar, technical and prevocational. Two new types of school - practical schools and skills opportunity schools - are being developed to cater for students who are either unmotivated by the mainstream curriculum, or who find it too demanding. t

In 1994, the 410 grammar schools had a total enrolment of 415 430. These schools offer a five-year secondary course in a broad range of academic, cultural and practical subjects leading to the HKCEE. Most also offer a two-year sixth form course leading to the HKALE. The 20 technical schools, which prepare students for the HKCEE with an emphasis on technical and commercial subjects, had an enrolment of 21 330. Qualified candidates can continue their studies in the sixth form or in technical institutes.

The 25 prevocational schools, with an enrolment of 21 439, offer an emphasis on practical and technical subjects upon which future vocational training may be based, while providing a good foundation of general knowledge. The curriculum in Secondary 1 to 3 consists of about 40 per cent technical and practical subjects, but this is reduced to about 30 per cent in Secondary 4 and 5. Students completing Secondary 3 in prevocational schools may enter an approved apprenticeship scheme, or continue in school and take the HKCEE. Qualified students can then proceed to the sixth form, or a course in a technical college or technical institute.

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