Education in Hong Kong: Encyclopedia II - Education in Hong Kong - Overview

Education in Hong Kong - Overview

In Hong Kong there is a non-compulsory three-year kindergarten education followed by a legal requirement of a six-year primary education, three-year junior secondary education, two-year senior secondary education and a non-compulsory two-year matriculation course leading to the Advanced Level examinations. There are also tertiary institutions offering various bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, other higher diplomas and associate degree courses.

Since the 1970s, a policy of nine-year free and eleven-year (with exceptions^) compulsory education has been launched in Hong Kong. It includes six years of primary education and first five (^or three) years of secondary education.

There are basically three types of comprehensive schools in Hong Kong. Firstly there are government schools, which are relatively rare; by far the most numerous are subsidised schools, run by charitable (often Christian) organizations with government fundings. Most private schools are run by Christian organizations as well; admissions are based more on academic merit than on financial ability.

Outside this system are the private international schools, which provide an alternative to the high-pressured mainstream education, in exchange for much higher tuition fees.

The mainstream education system in Hong Kong has often been described as a "Peking Duck-style education" (Chinese: 填鴨式教育), meaning that students are learning spoon-fed by being made to memorise books for examinations, i.e. rote learning. Schools in Hong Kong typically have strict codes of discipline; practically all school students in Hong Kong wear uniforms.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Overview", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki