I was very pleased to hear that our Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, finally visited a secondary school last week. I hope his visit was enlightening and that he was able to talk to teachers about their concerns and reassure them that the EMB was trying to find ways of tackling overcrowded classrooms, huge class sizes, indifference or downright apathy to learning English and Putonghua and generally low morale amongst the teaching staff. If I might make a suggestion then it is that his next visit should be informal and unannounced, so that he could observe the daily running of schools without the unnecessary and expensive pomp and fanfare that accompanies any official visitors from outside the school. I have made the observation on several occasions at staff meetings and to senior management that I was under the impression that the establishment in which I worked was a school, not a hotel. Many people seem to think it requires glossy expensive brochures, worthy of the Hilton or Sheraton, flowers and bouquets that would make the accountants at Interflora head office swoon, plaques, pennants, flags and banners. These must all come at a price yet I am also told that the school cannot afford toilet paper and soap for the students' toilets. Pomp, ceremony and show seem to be more important than basic health and hygiene. I must commend Fanny Law who, in an article in the Education Post, asked schools to no longer give her plaques and gifts as she has enough to fill a large storeroom, as Professor Li will soon enjoy if he makes frequent visits to Hong Kong schools. He might suggest to the principals before his visit he would like this money to be donated to the toilet paper and soap fund instead. I am sure that after Professor Li's first visit to a school, and his frank and open discussions with teachers, he has seen that there are many burning issues yet to be resolved. PAMELA YOUNG Homantin Government Secondary School
