ENG-2017 — Page 174

8

Education

kindergartens in 2017-18, about 770 were non-profit-making local kindergartens eligible to join the new kindergarten education scheme and 748 have joined.

Primary Education

Public-sector primary schools offer six years' free education. A child starts primary education at about age six. In September, 293,457 children were enrolled in 454 public-sector primary schools, comprising 34 government schools and 420 aided schools. In addition, 21 DSS primary schools offered 16,173 places and 62 private primary schools offered 38,334 places.

Admissions to Primary 1 in public-sector schools are administered through the centralised Primary One Admission System, divided into two stages: Discretionary Places Admission and Central Allocation. Each school will first earmark about half of its Primary 1 places as discretionary places, and parents may apply to only one government or aided school within or outside the school catchment area, or 'school net, where they live. The remaining 50 per cent of Primary 1 places are for central allocation. Of these, 10 per cent are meant for parents to make up to three Unrestricted School Choices from any school net for their child, while 90 per cent are for parents to make Restricted School Choices in their school net in order of preference.

Secondary Education

Public-sector secondary schools also provide six years' free education. In September, 261,242 students were enrolled in 392 public-sector secondary schools, comprising 359 aided schools, 31 government schools and two caput schools that are subsidised mainly according to the number of students admitted. There were also 61 DSS secondary schools offering 55,950 places and 20 private secondary schools offering 8,189 places.

All students undergo three years of junior secondary and three years of senior secondary education leading to the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE).

Subsidised Secondary 1 places are allocated through the Secondary School Places Allocation System, divided into two stages: Discretionary Places and Central Allocation. Schools participating in the system reserve not more than 30 per cent of their Secondary 1 places as discretionary places and parents may apply for their child direct to not more than two participating schools in any districts. The schools' remaining places, after deducting discretionary and repeater places, are used for central allocation, of which 10 per cent are meant for parents to make not more than three Unrestricted School Choices from any school net, while 90 per cent are for parents to make a maximum of 30 Restricted School Choices from the school net to which their child belongs.

Students completing junior secondary education normally remain in the same school for their senior secondary education or attend full-time, fully subvented vocational training courses run by the VTC.

Senior Secondary Curriculum

The senior secondary curriculum is flexible, coherent and diversified. It aims to cater for students' varied interests, needs, aptitudes and abilities. Students take four core subjects and

122