EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
After the World War Second, in 1950, little was left of the missionary schools in Hong Kong. School structures had been run down, all the textbooks had been burnt and there was a huge shortage of good teachers. During the same year, there was a huge influx of immigrants. This meant that an enormous education system had to be established to cater for the growing number of youths. This therefore forced the government to embark on a serious school building program to accommodate the huge population (Anthony, 1990).
In 1965, the government announced a change in the educational structure. They decided to set primary education as a priority, in addition, any other expansion in education would be through the aided sector. By 1970, huge improvement in the education system had been realized. For example, better training programs for teachers in colleges had been introduced with the minimum training period for a teacher being increased from one year to two years. Secondly, the advisory board had been greatly improved and its range of services increased. In addition, a special committee for curriculum development had also been instituted. Indeed, the national exam had also been changed to accommodate other foreign languages. Finally, an educational television show had already been prepared for primary going kids (Rozanna, 1998).
Following the success in primary education, it became possible to embark on secondary school enrollment. In 1970, the education board agreed that there was a need to start massive constructions of secondary schools and necessary steps should be taken to ensure that the government would make a provision to subsidize secondary education. In 1978, the government made it official that it would provide three years of junior secondary school at subsidized rates. The same year, the government would also announce that education was no longer an option but compulsory for the first nine years (Anthony, 1990).
After a series of consultations, the government decided that they would need to select 40% of those who had completed junior high school to join the senior classes. Among those selected, four out of ten would pursue languages while the rest would join the technical streams. Besides this selection, the government decided that in the spirit of promoting education, it would give a subsidy for 60% of those who would be selected to join senior secondary school (Rozanna, 1998).
In line with government’s plan to improve both secondary and tertiary education, the government decided to embark on a journey to develop structures and institutions to integrate the disabled individuals in the society. These plans were compiled and handed over to the social welfare for implementation in 1980 (Huashan, 2000).
In the recent past, there have been calls for more open-ended assignments and communal based projects. It has also been necessary to shift emphasis from the technical subjects to social sciences. There has been criticism from some quarters terming some subjects as meaningless and bogus. In particular, the history has described inconsequentiality as it involves too much memorization and little applicability. In general, a lot of work is still ongoing to streamline the education system with a lot emphasis to reintroduce social sciences.
In 1965, the government announced a change in the educational structure. They decided to set primary education as a priority, in addition, any other expansion in education would be through the aided sector. By 1970, huge improvement in the education system had been realized. For example, better training programs for teachers in colleges had been introduced with the minimum training period for a teacher being increased from one year to two years. Secondly, the advisory board had been greatly improved and its range of services increased. In addition, a special committee for curriculum development had also been instituted. Indeed, the national exam had also been changed to accommodate other foreign languages. Finally, an educational television show had already been prepared for primary going kids (Rozanna, 1998).
Following the success in primary education, it became possible to embark on secondary school enrollment. In 1970, the education board agreed that there was a need to start massive constructions of secondary schools and necessary steps should be taken to ensure that the government would make a provision to subsidize secondary education. In 1978, the government made it official that it would provide three years of junior secondary school at subsidized rates. The same year, the government would also announce that education was no longer an option but compulsory for the first nine years (Anthony, 1990).
After a series of consultations, the government decided that they would need to select 40% of those who had completed junior high school to join the senior classes. Among those selected, four out of ten would pursue languages while the rest would join the technical streams. Besides this selection, the government decided that in the spirit of promoting education, it would give a subsidy for 60% of those who would be selected to join senior secondary school (Rozanna, 1998).
In line with government’s plan to improve both secondary and tertiary education, the government decided to embark on a journey to develop structures and institutions to integrate the disabled individuals in the society. These plans were compiled and handed over to the social welfare for implementation in 1980 (Huashan, 2000).
In the recent past, there have been calls for more open-ended assignments and communal based projects. It has also been necessary to shift emphasis from the technical subjects to social sciences. There has been criticism from some quarters terming some subjects as meaningless and bogus. In particular, the history has described inconsequentiality as it involves too much memorization and little applicability. In general, a lot of work is still ongoing to streamline the education system with a lot emphasis to reintroduce social sciences.