Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's first Policy Address is set for Jan 16. During his election campaign, Leung pledged: "Education is of paramount importance in policy making." The following issues have to be taken into consideration in Leung's upcoming policy address in response to the pressing need for "Quality Education for a Prosperous City".

1. Chief Executive's annual "Education Policy Proclamation"

The Chief Executive's attitude toward education, as indicated by explicit presentation on his visions, policy formulation and implementation, is of paramount importance. His annual "Education Policy Proclamation", expected to be made on Teachers' Day, arouses public awareness over the importance placed on the "Quality Education for a Prosperous City' and the promotion of core values in education. This is highly conducive to the future development of Hong Kong's education.

2. Experience-based implementation of 15-year free education

Free education should be extended to 15 years through flexibility and diversification. Emphasis needs to be placed on reformation of pre-school education and kindergartens (also jointly known as "early childhood education"), of which the measures should include the abolition of the pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme, the provision of a more stable and secure working environment and the formulation of a pay scale for kindergarten teachers commensurate with their qualifications in equivalence to the one for primary and secondary teachers, to raise their professional status.

With regard to tertiary education, a timetable needs to be set out to increase the proportion of publicly-funded university places in UGC-funded institutions to 30 percent. At the secondary level, there needs to be "dual implementation" of both medium-sized (30 students per class) and small class (25 students per class) teaching. Before the implementation of any decisive education policies or plans, a consensus must be established on professional opinion polls in the community.

It is essential to give up one-off utilitarian policies in disguise for testing public opinion. If education issues continue to be mutated and treated as tools for politics including elections, it will undoubtedly sacrifice the well-being of our future generation. Both the former nine-year and the current 12-year free education policies are typical examples of shortsightedness in policy making and desires for instant success, giving rise to endless problems.

3. Building a "Greater China region education exchange circle"

Over-competition and elitism have blocked the admission of many matriculated secondary graduates to UGC-funded institutions, whereas the facilitation of universal university education causes a decline in the overall standard of university graduates. The government needs to strike a balance between these two. For this reason, there needs to be an increase in the proportion of publicly-funded university places in UGC-funded institutions to 30 percent.

In addition, the provision of adequate financial support to the local, self-financing institutions can foster the enhancement of their teaching quality to offer eligible applicants another pathway to tertiary education. Apart from local universities, there should be enhancement of networking with the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in higher education and the System of Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications, so that Hong Kong can develop as the hub of the "Greater China region education exchange circle". These are intended for both nurturing more talents for our economic, cultural and social developments, and lessening students' pressure from examinations and keen competition for admission to local universities.

4. Chinese history and national education in focus

After the handover, national education has been regarded as a taboo topic, which is inappropriate in terms of "affection", "sensibility" and "legislation". Indeed, national education should originate from historical studies of our country. Therefore, Chinese history should be offered as one of the independent and compulsory subjects at junior secondary level and as an alternative core subject to liberal studies at the senior secondary level. Major historical events, such as the "June 4th Incident" have to be included in the curriculum to foster class teaching, discussion and analysis, so that the learning of the present, past and future can become interactive.

In short, one of the priorities for the new term of the HKSAR government is to establish core values in the city, including values applied to democracy, judiciary, justice and patriotism, and to develop national education of a Hong Kong style through a global review with Chinese history as the foundation.

The author is vice-chairman of Education Convergence.

(HK Edition 12/20/2012 page3)