The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, reviewed progress on measures to improve the quality of education in primary and secondary schools in his policy speech.

He said that so far more than 500 projects had received a total of over $350 million from the $5 billion Quality Education Fund since its set-up.

"These projects will benefit over 500,000 students in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools," he added.

Also, from 1999, grants would be provided to all public sector schools to help them draw up management programmes which would give them more flexibility, as well as greater responsibility for improving the quality of education.

Altogether these schools would receive an estimated total of over $500 million in grants over the four years to 2003.

Mr Tung said that efforts must also be redoubled to improve the quality of teaching in schools, noting that teachers and principals were the backbone of the education system and that their skill and commitment were essential to the success of this system.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education which currently offered 2,400 Certificate of Education places would be developed into a degree-awarding teacher training institute.

"In the 1999-2000 academic year, we will start progressively to upgrade these places, and provide instead places at degree or above level at both the Institute and other tertiary institutions," he added.

To improve further the quality and professionalism of teachers, the Administration would allocate $20 million to set up a General Teaching Council, develop an awards scheme which would recognise high performance and stimulate a culture of quality in the teaching profession, and provide subject training in music and art and crafts to some 600 teachers annually over the next seven years to ensure an all-round education for our students.

Mr Tung said that the Administration was on course to achieve its target of having 60 per cent of primary school children enjoying whole-day schooling by 2002.

"Our longer term aim is for virtually all primary school students to enjoy whole-day schooling from the start of academic year 2007-2008.

"In pursuing this aim, we must recognise constraints such as the availability of sufficient school sites in individual districts and possible shifts in population growth and distribution.

"Also, reluctantly we shall have to continue with the interim measure of slightly increasing class size, in the interests of achieving the important aim of full whole-day schooling," Mr Tung said.

Mr Tung acknowledged contribution from public sector schools in educating children, noting that they had provided most of the primary and secondary school places.

However, he reckoned that at this stage of Hong Kong's development there were good arguments for injecting more variety into the education system, for giving schools greater scope for innovation and for allowing parents a wider choice of fostering growth in the number of quality private schools.

To facilitate expansion in the private school sector, the Administration would increase the level of assistance to direct subsidy schools in 1999, allocate on a pilot basis Government-built premises to interested bodies to operate direct subsidy schools, and introduce a pilot scheme whereby non-profit making private schools might apply for a land grant at a nominal premium and for a capital assistance loan.

On special schools, Mr Tung said that a programme would be launched in the coming year to provide air-conditioning in 17 schools for physically and severely mentally handicapped children regardless of whether these schools were affected by noise or other environmental nuisance.

A higher rate of subsidy would be given to kindergartens which employed a greater percentage of qualified teachers than required by current standards.

"This initiative will encourage kindergartens to achieve the target of 60 per cent of teachers being Qualified Kindergarten Teachers before the 2000-2001 school year," Mr Tung said.

End/Wednesday, October 7, 1998

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