Major revamp of education to cost $6.7b
Expense would be met by higher fees, with a degree costing 60pc more
Plans for a major overhaul of the education system unveiled yesterday would cost $6.7 billion and increase university fees by nearly 60 per cent.
Under the proposed reforms, the higher recurrent costs of providing a longer education for both secondary and university students would be funded by higher tuition fees.
The reforms envisage scrapping British-style HKCEE and A-level examinations and adopting a three-year senior secondary curriculum and four-year university courses.
If the plans are adopted, the first batch of students would experience the new senior secondary curriculum in 2008 and take a new end-of-school public exam in 2011. These students now are in Primary Six.
The reforms are aimed at providing students with a broader-based education and lifelong learning skills to better equip them for further studies and employment in a knowledge-based society.
Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li Kwok-cheung said the government was moving away from an elitist education system to cater for students who are not academically inclined.
'It is important that we cater for each child because there is something in each child. I don't think the new system will have a diluting effect on the overall quality of students because we are giving extra years of education to them,' he said.
Under the proposals, secondary schooling would adopt a new structure by 2008 - three years of junior secondary and three years of senior secondary schooling, as opposed to the present so-called '5+2' system.
This means all students would receive six years of secondary education. Currently, only about a third of pupils move on to Form Six.
The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination taken at the end of Form Five, and the Advanced Level Examination two years later, would be replaced by the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination.
Fees for senior secondary students would rise in stages over the next four years, to $7,200 a year by 2008. At present, the annual fee for Forms Four and Five is $5,050, rising to $8,750 for Form Six. University fees would increase from $42,100 to $50,000 a year when four-year degrees are introduced in 2011, an increase of almost 60 per cent taking into account the extra year.
The expected $6.7 billion initial cost for the reforms comprises $3.4 billion for the construction of more university complexes and facilities and $3.3 billion for curriculum and teacher development and the operation of additional classes during the transition years.
The recurrent cost of the additional year of the undergraduate study would be $1.8 billion.
At a Legislative Council meeting yesterday, lawmakers expressed concern that some students might be denied a university education because of higher fees. Professor Li pledged to explore measures to ensure students would not be deterred by financial considerations.
President of the Hong Kong Federation of Students Chan Fu-yin said the proposed fee increase would put more students in debt. Cheung Kwok-wah, chairman of the Home-School Co-operation Committee, supported the curriculum change but called on the government to account for the rise in university fees.