The following is issued on behalf of the Education Commission:

The Chairman of the Education Commission (EC), Dr Rosanna Wong, said today (May 24) that the EC had endorsed the proposal of the Working Group on the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System and the Medium of Instruction (MOI) for Secondary Schools to extend the time to complete its review.

The EC met to discuss the progress of the Working Group this morning and listened to the progress report as presented by the Chairman of the Working Group.

"These are extremely important issues," Dr Wong said, "and we need to provide the Working Group with enough time to deliberate all key issues identified thoroughly."

"It is imperative that the proposals for the SSPA and the MOI are not only educationally sound but also acceptable to the education sector and the community," Dr Wong continued. "We have every confidence that the Working Group, using this additional time, will come up with a comprehensive set of proposals that are in the best interests of the students."

Ends/ Monday, May 24, 2004