ENG-1999 — Page 193

EDUCATION

Examination (HKCEE) but with different emphases to cater for students' different needs. A two-year sixth-form course leading to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination is available. In September, secondary schools offering the grammar, technical or prevocational curriculum had a total enrolment of 454 000.

Following a review, the Government is developing a new technical curriculum for prevocational and secondary technical schools for implementation from the 2000-01 school year, to keep abreast of the community's changing needs.

The four practical schools, which offer a curriculum with a practical orientation and strong guidance support, had an enrolment of 1 150 in September. They offer a three-year junior secondary education to help students develop their interest in and motivation towards studies, and prepare them for vocational training, employment or senior secondary education in mainstream schools. The seven skills opportunity schools, which offer a three-year tailor-made and skills-oriented curriculum to help students with severe learning difficulties acquire basic social and vocational skills, had an enrolment of 900 in September.

Secondary 3 leavers are selected for subsidised places in Secondary 4 or basic craft courses, according to internal school assessments and parental preference. In 1999, 77 002 students took part in the selection exercise, of whom 69 303 (90.0 per cent) secured Secondary 4 places in public sector schools, and 2 596 (3.4 per cent) were admitted to basic craft courses. HKCEE candidates applied for subsidised Secondary 6 places according to an established Secondary 6 admission procedure. The 1999-2000 school year had 23 956 subsidised Secondary 6 places.

As with the primary level, the Government makes constant efforts to improve the design for secondary schools and has carried out improvement works to existing secondary schools under the School Improvement Programme since 1994. By the end of the year, 129 secondary schools had received additional facilities under the programme.

The student-to-teacher ratio is about 19:1. Additional teachers are supplied to strengthen language teaching; to provide remedial teaching, career guidance, counselling, extra-curricular activities and library services; and to enable split-class teaching of cultural, craft and technical subjects, plus some sixth-form subjects. The ratio of graduate to non-graduate teachers is about 7:3.

Each public sector secondary school has a library staffed by a teacher-librarian responsible for managing the school library and organising library activities for students. The 1999 Reading Award Scheme for Secondary 1 to 5 attracted 50 000 students from 230 secondary schools.

Curriculum

The primary school curriculum aims to provide a coherent and balanced programme to promote all-round development. All government and aided primary schools adopt a core curriculum including Chinese, English, Mathematics, General Studies, Music, Physical Education, and Art and Craft as well as Putonghua. A syllabus for each core subject is prepared by the Curriculum Development Council (CDC). Syllabuses are regularly reviewed to meet changing educational and community needs. Other learning programmes such as civic education, drug education, environmental education, sex education and information technology education are offered on a cross-curricular basis or as separate optional subjects. The activity approach is

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