An amendment to the Education Ordinance is being considered to ban tutorial colleges from charging students before provisional registrations. There will also be discussions on extending rules on teaching and course standards, Secretary for Education and Manpower Joseph Wong Wing-ping said. But he said it would be difficult to ban schools and tutorial centres from recruiting students before they registered with the Government. Four tutorial schools closed recently because they were found to be operating without a licence. 'Many schools need to enrol students while their applications are being processed so it can proceed with necessary preparations,' Mr Wong said. It normally takes about 25 working days to process a provisional application after a school has passed checks from the Buildings and Fire Services departments. Concerns were raised about teaching methods and academic standards of tutorial colleges. But Cheng Kai-nam of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong said regular schools' education might be no better. Mr Cheng urged a comprehensive review of the education system. Mr Wong said from September 1994 to July 1997 the Education Department received 358 complaints concerning school registrations. About 300 involved tutorial colleges. During the last academic year, the administration sent 193 warning letters to education organisations. Eight prosecutions had been called for.