ENG-1997 — Page 201

EDUCATION

Medium of Instruction

The government's language policy is to enable students to be biliterate (to master written Chinese and English) and trilingual (to speak fluent Cantonese, Putonghua and English). To achieve this, the government has for many years been promoting mother-tongue teaching in schools, since this is recognised world-wide as the most effective medium of instruction. Chinese is the medium of instruction in most primary schools, with English taught as a subject from Primary 1. A few primary schools use English as the language of instruction. Many schools teach Putonghua as a separate subject or during after-school activities.

In September 1997, the government encouraged all local public sector secondary schools to adopt Chinese as the medium of instruction, starting with their Secondary 1 intake in the 1998-99 school year and progressing each year to a higher level of secondary education. Only schools satisfying certain criteria regarding students' language ability, teacher capability and support services will be allowed to use, or continue to use, English as the medium of instruction. To help them choose secondary schools most suited to their children's language ability, parents will be informed of their children's grouping and the medium of instruction adopted by individual schools.

In the 1997-98 school year, 77 secondary schools used Chinese for all subjects except English language. This figure will increase to about 300 in the 1998-99 school year. Measures are being taken to raise students' English standard. A new programme is launched to recruit native-speaking English teachers for secondary schools. Secondary schools using Chinese as the medium of instruction will also be given additional English teachers.

Education for Newly Arrived Children and Youngsters

The Education Department, with the assistance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), operates an induction programme for newly arrived children and youngsters aged six to 15 to help them adapt to the local social and school environment. NGOs also run programmes to help newly arrived children and youngsters aged nine to 15 improve their English standard. Feedback from teachers, students and the community to these programmes has been very positive.

A set of self-learning packages on the English Language and a multi-media CD- ROM named ‘From Simplified to Traditional Chinese Characters' (with guidelines) were produced and distributed to schools and NGOs for use by the newly arrived children and youngsters. Tests on the Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics were constructed to help schools assess the standard of newly arrived children and youngsters for admission to Primary 2 to Secondary 4 levels. Advice was also given to teachers on tailoring the curricula in the subjects of Chinese Language and English Language for Primary 1 to Secondary 3 students.

To help newly arrived children or youngsters already admitted to schools overcome learning and other adaptation problems, a school-based support programme was introduced in September 1997. A block grant is given to public sector schools which admit such students, at the rate of $2,000 per pupil at primary level and $3,330 at secondary level. A pilot scheme on short-term preparatory courses for newly arrived children and youngsters is being introduced in five primary and two secondary schools. To increase educational opportunities for newly arrived children and

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