 |
|
| Education Bureau Social Welfare Department |
|
|---|---|
| Secretary of State Director of Social Welfare |
Eddie Ng Patrick Nip |
| National education budget (2012/13) | |
| Budget | $39,420 per capita |
| General details | |
| Primary languages | English & Cantonese |
| System type | Territorial |
| Compulsory education | 1852 |
| Literacy (2010) | |
| Total | 94.6 % |
| Male | N/A |
| Female | N/A |
| Enrollment | |
| Total | N/A |
| Primary | N/A |
| Secondary | N/A |
| Post secondary | N/A |
| Attainment | |
| Secondary diploma | N/A |
| Post-secondary diploma | N/A |
Education in Hong Kong is largely modelled on that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. It is overseen by the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department.
Small village Chinese schools were observed by the British missionaries when they arrived circa 1843. Anthony Sweeting believes those small village schools existed in Chek Chu, Shek Pai Wan, Heung Kong Tsai and Wong Nai Chong on Hong Kong Island, although proof is no longer available.
One of the earliest schools with reliable records was Li Ying College established in 1075 in present day New Territories. By 1860 Hong Kong had 20 village schools. Chinese who were wealthy did not educate their children in Hong Kong, instead they sent them back to the mainland for traditional Chinese education. The changes came with the arrival of the British in 1841.
At first Hong Kong's education came from Protestant and Catholic missionaries who provided social services. Italian missionaries began to provide boy-only education to British and Chinese youth in 1843. By 1861 Frederick Stewart would become "The Founder of Hong Kong Education" for integrating a modern western-style education model into the Colonial Hong Kong school system. One of the much contested debate was whether schools should offer Vernacular education, teaching in Chinese at all. Education was considered a luxury for the elite and the rich. The first school to open the floodgate of western medical practice to the Far East was the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. The London Missionary Society and Sir James Cantlie started the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1887 (although, the ‘for Chinese’ was later dropped from the name). In addition, the London Missionary Society founded Ying Wa Girls' School in 1900. Belilios Public School was a girls’ secondary school founded in 1890 – the first government school in Hong Kong that provided bilingual education in English and Chinese. The push for Chinese education in a British system did not begin until the rise of social awareness of the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and New Life Movement in 1934. Educating the poor did not become a priority until they accounted for the majority of the population.
Finance issues were addressed in the 1970s. A small group of protesters of South Asian origin marched through central Hong Kong demanding more schooling in the English language on 3 June 2007.
Preschool education in Hong Kong is not free and fees are payable by pupils' parents. However, parents whose children have the right of abode in Hong Kong can pay for part of their fees with a voucher from the government under the Preprimary Education Voucher Scheme. In 2013, the amount of subsidy under the PEVS is $16,800.
Every child in Hong Kong is required by law to attend a school if he or she is aged 6 or above for 9 years. Education in the public sector is free.
| Age on birthday in school year | Year | Curriculum Stages | Schools | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | N/A | Preschool Education | N/A | Kindergarten | |||
| 3 | Nursery School | ||||||
| 4 | |||||||
| 5 | |||||||
| 6 | Primary 1 | Primary Education | Primary School or Junior School | Middle School | |||
| 7 | Primary 2 | ||||||
| 8 | Primary 3 | ||||||
| 9 | Primary 4 | ||||||
| 10 | Primary 5 | ||||||
| 11 | Primary 6 | ||||||
| 12 | Form 1 | Secondary Education | Secondary Education | Secondary Education | Secondary School or High School | ESF Secondary School | |
| 13 | Form 2 | ||||||
| 14 | Form 3 | ||||||
| 15 | Form 4 | Diploma of Secondary Education | GCSE / iGCSE | ||||
| 16 | Form 5 | International Baccalaureate | |||||
| 17 | Form 6 / Lower Sixth | A levels / International Baccalaureate | |||||
| 18 | Form 7 / Upper Sixth | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
Children receive primary education usually from the age of 6 until 12. Six subjects are studied, including English, Chinese, mathematics, General Studies, music, visual arts and physical education. At schools with religious affiliations, religious education or bible studies may be studied as well.
Secondary education is separated into junior and senior years. In junior years, the curriculum is a broad one where history, geography and science are studied alongside subjects that have already been studied at primary schools. In senior years, this becomes more selective and students have a choice over what and how much is to be studied.
Commerce stream in secondary schools are considered vocational in nature. Students in the Commerce stream would usually enter the workplace to gain practical work experience by this point. Further education pursuit in Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education or universities abroad are common. The Manpower Development Committee (MDC) advices the government on coordination, regulation and promotion of the sector. In addition, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) ensures the level of standard is met through the "Apprentice Ordinance". The VTC also operate three skills-centres for people with disabilities. secondary schools in Hong Kong are going to be cut down to only two years due to the switch in the government.
International institutions provide both primary and secondary education in Hong Kong. International institutions like school's within the English Schools Foundation, Li Po Chun United World College, Hong Kong International School, Chinese International School, Victoria Shanghai Academy German Swiss International School, Canadian International School, French International School and Yew Chung International School teach with English as the primary language, with some sections bilingual in German, French and Chinese. International school students rarely take Hong Kong public exams. British students take GCSE, IGCSE and A-levels. US students take APs. Increasingly, international schools follow the International Baccalaureate (IBDP) program, and enter universities through non-JUPAS direct entry. International students apply on a per school basis, whereas Hong Kong local students submit 1 application for multiple local universities as a JUPAS applicant.
Higher education remains exclusive in Hong Kong. Fewer than 20,000 students are offered places funded by the government every year, although this number has more than doubled over the last three decades.
As a result, many continue their studies abroad. The following is some of the destinations that students in Hong Kong go to for tertiary education and their respective numbers.
| Country | 1975 | 1984 | 1986 | 1988 | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1998 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | 11,575 | 21,538 | 25,995 | 29,591 | 34,556 | 42,721 | 52,494 | 59,528 | 59,408 |
| Australia | 572 | 1,658 | 1,687 | 1,889 | 3,864 | 6,707 | 11,932 | 17,135 | 20,739 |
| USA | 11,930 | 9,000 | 9,720 | 9,160 | 12,630 | 14,018 | 12,940 | 8,730 | 7,545 |
| UK | 4,434 | 6,500 | 6,935 | 7,300 | 7,700 | 7,600 | 7,400 | 5,450 | 5,200 |
| Canada | 6,644 | 7,723 | 6,730 | 5,840 | 6,372 | 6,600 | 6,589 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| Taiwan | 2,626 | 3,816 | 3,854 | 3,850 | 3,633 | 3,450 | 2,663 | 1,487 | 1,171 |
Adult education is popular, since it gives middle-aged adults a chance to obtain a tertiary degree. The concept was not common several decades ago. The EMB has commissioned two non-profit school operators to provide evening courses. Both operators have set up fee remission schemes to help the adult learners in need of financial assistance. Adult education courses also provide Vocational Training Council through various universities and private institutions. The Open University of Hong Kong is one establishment for mature students.
The EMB provides education services for newly arrived children, which includes children from the Mainland, non-Chinese speaking children and returnees. Free "Induction Programmes" of up to 60 hours have been offered to NAC by non-government organisations. The EMB also provides a 6 month full-time "Initiation Programme" incorporating both academic and non-academic support services, for NAC before they are formally placed into mainstream schools. Hei-Hang Hayes Tang (2002) provided a good sociology of education thesis on the NACs' adaptation and school performance
| Type | Category | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government schools | Comprehensive | Run by the government. | |
| Aided schools | Subsidized schools | Comprehensive | Most common, run by charitable and religious (Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, TWGHs and others) organisations with government funding. |
| Grant schools | Subsidised | Schools run by charitable or religious organisations with government funding according to the now defunct Grant Code. Currently receiving government aid in accordance with the Codes of Aid [3], which also apply for the Subsidized schools. | |
| Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) schools | Private | Run by various non-government organisations. HKSAR Government has encouraged non-government primary and secondary schools which have attained a sufficiently high educational standard to join the DSS by providing subsidies in order to enhance the quality of private school education since 1991/92 school year. Under the scheme, schools are free to decide on their curriculum, fees and entrance requirements. | |
| Caput schools | Subsidised | Subsidies are provided according to the number of pupils admitted. | |
| Private schools | Private | Run by various private organisations, and mainly accept local Chinese children. Admissions are based more on academic merit than on financial ability, they teach in both English and in Cantonese. | |
| Private international schools | Private | Provide an alternative to the mainstream education, in exchange for much higher tuition fees although it is recently deemed as high-pressure as local mainstream education. The schools teach streams in both English, and in the language of its sponsoring nation e.g. French, German, Japanese etc. | |
| English Schools Foundation | Subsidised | Provide an alternative to the high-pressured mainstream education. However the tuition fees are lower than many other international schools as many ESF schools enjoy subvention by the Hong Kong Government in order to educate English-speaking children who cannot access the local system. | |
Following the introduction of the comprehensive system in the 1960s in the UK, children in Hong Kong transformed from the old education system to the new.
| Length | Education type | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 4 years | Secondary-middle school | |
| 3 + 2 years | Secondary-high school |
| Length | Education type | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 6 years | Primary school | |
| 5 + 2 years | Secondary school |
| Length | Education type | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 6 years | Primary education | compulsory government funded as of 1971 |
| 3 years | Secondary education | compulsory government funded as of 1978 |
| 2 + 2 years | Secondary school | selective |
| Length | Education type | Additional names | Type | Focus | School year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | Kindergarten | voluntary | General | Sept - June | |
| 6 years | Primary education | Primary 1 to 6 | compulsory | General | Sept - July |
| 3 years | Secondary education | Form 1 to 3 | compulsory | General | Sept - July |
| 2 years | Senior Secondary (leads to HKCEE) |
Form 4, and 5 | selective | Specialised | Sept - July (Form 4),Sept - April (Form 5) |
| 2 years | Matriculation Course (leads to HKALE) |
Form 6 (Lower Sixth Form) Form 7 (Upper Sixth Form) |
selective, performance based | Specialised | Sept - July (Form 6), Sept - February/March (Form 7) |
| Depends on subject | Tertiary education (leads to bachelors, masters and other academic degrees) |
selective | Specialised | Varies |
| Length | Education type | Additional names | Type | Focus | School year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | Kindergarten | voluntary | General | Sept - June | |
| 6 years | Primary education | Primary 1 to 6 | compulsory | General | Sept - July |
| 3 years | Junior Secondary education | Secondary 1 to 3 | compulsory | General | Sept - July |
| 3 years | Senior Secondary Education (leads to Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education) |
Secondary 4 to 6 (or Senior Secondary 1 to 3) |
compulsory | Specialised | Sept - July (Secondary 4, 5),Sept - Feb (Secondary 6) |
| Depends on subject | Tertiary education (leads to bachelors, masters and other academic degrees) |
selective | Specialised | Varies |
Many primary schools in Hong Kong offer half-day schooling, splitting by AM and PM to handle the demand. The two sessions are usually treated as separate school entities with two different headmasters. To make up for the time of shortened half days, students are sometimes required to attend alternate Saturdays. Most primary schools are gradually moving to full school day systems as government policy aims to phase out half-day schooling over time as resource permits.
Due to the drop in birth rate in recent years, many primary schools were forced to cut classes, cut teachers and even close down. There have been debates that one should seize the opportunity to promote small class teaching. Doing so could mitigate the pressure of teachers, class and school reductions, on top of improving ratio of students to teachers.
Good behavior has always been emphasized in Hong Kong, to the point that it is sometimes said to hinder pupils' development. Misbehavior is recorded and shown on school reports.
Education in Hong Kong has often been described as 'spoon feeding'. Cram schools in Hong Kong have also become a popular standard in parallel to regular education.
With the advent of education reform there is a greater emphasis on group projects, open-ended assignments on top of traditional homework. The current workload of a primary student in Hong Kong includes approximately two hours of schoolwork nightly. Along with extra-curricular activities, Hong Kong's education has become synonymous for leaning towards quantity. As early as March 1987, education advisory inspectors became concerned with the excessive amounts of "mechanical work and meaningless homework". In particular, history education has been recognised as ineffective, with critics claiming that the curriculum is not capable of delivering a sense of identity. Not only that, students have to memorise the whole history texts, thereby indicating that rote-learning has greater priority than absorbing and understanding material.
Some have criticised the system for having too narrow of a stream focus, too early on. Legco Member Alan Leong of the pointed out in a guest lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong that secondary level science students are incapable of participating in meaningful discussions on history, arts, or literature. Vice versa journalists of arts stream background are incapable of accurately discussing technological issues. The narrow focus of education in Hong Kong has been a concern.
The pervasive perception from observers in overseas education institutions generally is that a typical Hong Kong student compared with other students, even against other students in the Asia region, lacks systematic decision-making confidence and relies on repetition and undeveloped answers. This deviates from the common benchmark of intellect where value propositions are generated from innovation and distinctive solutions, and this has led to much schism in the debate of educational direction of Hong Kong, where the populace makes no such aspiration for intellect but seek constant reaffirmation of the value of myriad certificates obtained through pedagogy throughout their working lives. The desperation to seek standing in life through education is further highlighted by severe ironies such as:
1) Senior education officials often acclaim the excellence of Hong Kong education, yet few if any will let their children matriculate locally, preferring overseas universities instead.
2) A certificate driven society that takes pride in its academic excellence is unable to devise a suitable benchmark of excellence itself, with a low public approval of the local educational system, relies on certification from outside Hong Kong.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
HOT DESIGNS ▪ Premium designs ▪ Designs by country ▪ Designs by U.S. state ▪ Most popular designs ▪ Newest, last added designs ▪ Unique designs ▪ Cheap, budget designs ▪ Design super sale DESIGNS BY THEME ▪ Accounting, audit designs ▪ Adult, sex designs ▪ African designs ▪ American, U.S. designs ▪ Animals, birds, pets designs ▪ Agricultural, farming designs ▪ Architecture, building designs ▪ Army, navy, military designs ▪ Audio & video designs ▪ Automobiles, car designs ▪ Books, e-book designs ▪ Beauty salon, SPA designs ▪ Black, dark designs ▪ Business, corporate designs ▪ Charity, donation designs ▪ Cinema, movie, film designs ▪ Computer, hardware designs ▪ Celebrity, star fan designs ▪ Children, family designs ▪ Christmas, New Year's designs ▪ Green, St. Patrick designs ▪ Dating, matchmaking designs ▪ Design studio, creative designs ▪ Educational, student designs ▪ Electronics designs ▪ Entertainment, fun designs ▪ Fashion, wear designs ▪ Finance, financial designs ▪ Fishing & hunting designs ▪ Flowers, floral shop designs ▪ Food, nutrition designs ▪ Football, soccer designs ▪ Gambling, casino designs ▪ Games, gaming designs ▪ Gifts, gift designs ▪ Halloween, carnival designs ▪ Hotel, resort designs ▪ Industry, industrial designs ▪ Insurance, insurer designs ▪ Interior, furniture designs ▪ International designs ▪ Internet technology designs ▪ Jewelry, jewellery designs ▪ Job & employment designs ▪ Landscaping, garden designs ▪ Law, juridical, legal designs ▪ Love, romantic designs ▪ Marketing designs ▪ Media, radio, TV designs ▪ Medicine, health care designs ▪ Mortgage, loan designs ▪ Music, musical designs ▪ Night club, dancing designs ▪ Photography, photo designs ▪ Personal, individual designs ▪ Politics, political designs ▪ Real estate, realty designs ▪ Religious, church designs ▪ Restaurant, cafe designs ▪ Retirement, pension designs ▪ Science, scientific designs ▪ Sea, ocean, river designs ▪ Security, protection designs ▪ Social, cultural designs ▪ Spirit, meditational designs ▪ Software designs ▪ Sports, sporting designs ▪ Telecommunication designs ▪ Travel, vacation designs ▪ Transport, logistic designs ▪ Web hosting designs ▪ Wedding, marriage designs ▪ White, light designs E-COMMERCE DESIGNS ▪ Magento store designs ▪ OpenCart store designs ▪ PrestaShop store designs ▪ CRE Loaded store designs ▪ Jigoshop store designs ▪ VirtueMart store designs ▪ osCommerce store designs ▪ Zen Cart store designs CMS DESIGNS ▪ Flash CMS designs ▪ Joomla CMS designs ▪ Mambo CMS designs ▪ Drupal CMS designs ▪ WordPress blog designs ▪ Forum designs ▪ phpBB forum designs ▪ PHP-Nuke portal designs ANIMATED WEBSITE DESIGNS ▪ Flash CMS designs ▪ Silverlight animated designs ▪ Silverlight intro designs ▪ Flash animated designs ▪ Flash intro designs ▪ XML Flash designs ▪ Flash 8 animated designs ▪ Dynamic Flash designs ▪ Flash animated photo albums ▪ Dynamic Swish designs ▪ Swish animated designs ▪ jQuery animated designs WEBSITE DESIGNS ▪ WebMatrix Razor designs ▪ HTML 5 designs ▪ Web 2.0 designs ▪ 3-color variation designs ▪ 3D, three-dimensional designs ▪ Artwork, illustrated designs ▪ Clean, simple designs ▪ CSS based website designs ▪ Full design packages ▪ Full ready websites ▪ Portal designs ▪ Stretched, full screen designs ▪ Universal, neutral designs CORPORATE ID DESIGNS ▪ Corporate identity sets ▪ Logo layouts, logo designs ▪ Logotype sets, logo packs ▪ PowerPoint, PTT designs ▪ Facebook themes VIDEO, SOUND & MUSIC ▪ Video e-cards ▪ After Effects video intros ▪ Special video effects ▪ Music tracks, music loops ▪ Stock music bank GRAPHICS & CLIPART ▪ Pro clipart & illustrations, $19/year ▪ 5,000+ icons by subscription ▪ Icons, pictograms |
| Super Offers |
| Super Offers |
| Custom Logo Design $149 ▪ Web Programming ▪ ID Card Printing ▪ Best Web Hosting ▪ eCommerce Software ▪ Add Your Link |
| © 1996-2013 MAGIA Internet Studio ▪ About ▪ Portfolio ▪ Photo on Demand ▪ Hosting ▪ Advertise ▪ Sitemap ▪ Privacy ▪ Maria Online
|
