The following is issued on behalf of the Education Commission:

The Working Group on Pre-primary and Basic Education and the Working Group on Post-Secondary 3 Education set up under the Education Commission (EC) held a joint meeting today (Monday) to discuss the vision on future education goals for Hong Kong.

The EC Chairman, Mr Antony Leung; the Chairman of the Working Group on Pre-primary and Basic Education, Mr Tai Hay-lap; and the Chairman of the Working Group on Post-Secondary 3 Education, Professor K M Cheng, met the media after the meeting.

Commenting on the Chief Executive's 1998 Policy Address, Mr Antony Leung said: "The EC is pleased to note the Government's on-going commitment to enhance the quality of education at various education stages.

"We welcome the request by the Chief Executive for EC to develop proposals for a system to assess the performance of students at various stages of education.

"We will examine the issue in the course of the review of academic structure, in consultation with the relevant education-related executive and advisory bodies.

"Given the complexity of issues involved, the review of academic structure will be conducted in three stages.

"To start with, we will spell out the expected qualities/competencies of our young people in the 21st century, drawing reference from the world trends and the changing social and economic conditions.

"We will then map out the broad goals of education to best develop the potential of students, and to meet the needs of Hong Kong, China and the world at large," he said.

"In the next stage of the review, we will identify different models of academic structures and recommend the optimal one for Hong Kong. We will map out the education aims for individual stages of education, and examine ways to assess the performance of students at different stages.

"Finally, we will round up our recommendations and lay the foundation for the future development of curriculum, assessment methods and other major interface issues pertinent to the review.

"Given the wide implications of any proposed changes on the entire education, we will consult extensively in the course of the review and take into account views of different education sectors," Mr Leung said.

Ends/Monday, October 12, 1998