Educators want to see a blue print for long-term education development, focusing especially on growing recurrent expenditures in the Chief Executive's Policy Address October 13.

The Chairman of the Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council Liu Ah-chuen is critical of what he calls "a lack of emphasis" on educational development in recent years. Today, as secondary schools are facing a decline in the student population, it's time to establish the optimum number of schools to serve Hong Kong in the long run, Liu said.

"Student intakes will keep dropping over the next few years but will rebound after 2016. The administration should look beyond the problems and challenges by drawing up thorough plans for the development of secondary education," Liu added.

Well-rounded planning, says Professor Cheng Yin-cheong, vice president of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, would be to make good use of this critical period to upgrade and diversify secondary education, raising it to a world-class level over the next six years.

"Revenues are recommended to be distributed to secondary schools to transform them into high-end characteristic schools. School networks can be established to utilize resources as well as reduce closure of schools," Cheng said, adding that diversification of schools helps the pillars of future society develop their talents apart from academic studies.

Liu applauded the voluntary class-reduction scheme, saying it would help release the intense pressure of staff cuts faced by teachers who work at secondary schools under threat of closure.

Chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers Wong Kwan-yu said the federation will continue to press its demand for an increase in the teacher to class ration from the present 2:1 to 2.2:1 by 2012. The federation also wants maximum class sizes set at 30 by 2012.

Education sector lawmaker Cheung Man-kwong also hopes small class teaching (SCT) to be implemented in secondary schools over the next four years to match the SCT standards implemented in public primary schools during the 2009/10 school year. The ideal class size, in Cheung's view, is 25 students.

Educators are also calling for a much greater percentage of publicly-funded college placements to ensure Hong Kong's ongoing competitiveness, Liu stressed. "We encourage the government to increase intakes of undergraduates from the current 20 percent to 60 percent in the future. They include publicly-funded or privately-financed tertiary institutions," Liu said.

To address the shortfall of public-funded college places, Cheung proposed the government introduce a voucher scheme to fund students who must attend privately financed universities.

Wong believes that the current 25 percent of public spending in education is far from satisfactory. "Allocation of recurrent funding on education should be increased. The administration is introducing the national education program in schools. Without enough funding, how are we able to achieve this goal?" Wong asked.

Cheng also called on the administration to allocate more resources to pre-elementary education. "Children learn the quickest in their pre- and early- elementary stages. Qualification of pre-elementary teachers needs to be enhanced to provide the best teaching to the kids," he added. "The incomes of pre-elementary teachers should concurrently be increased to retain the qualified teachers."

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/08/2010 page1)