Plan and Programme

Abstract

The Regional Colleges of Education are a part of the programme sponsored by the Central Ministry of Education to improve the quality of secondary education - a programme based on a recognition of the widening variety of needs, abilities and aptitudes which the secondary schools should provide for, as secondary school enrolment increases rapidly, doubling every eight years. The Secondary Education Commission, in 1953, identified the inadequacies of the then existing system of secondary education as follows: This (secondary) education was too bookish and mechanical and did not cater to the different aptitudes of the pupils or to pupils different aptitudes. The unilateral scheme of studies which concentrated almost entirely on preparing students for entrance to the University was not calculated to bring out the best either in the teacher or the pupil again, a failure to provide diversified courses of study made it difficult for many students to secure suitable employment at the end of the course. The Commission made recommendations of far reaching importance for the improvement of secondary education which included: 1. the upgrading of high to higher secondary schools; 2. the establishment of multipurpose schools with a variety of diversified courses to suit the different abilities, interests and aptitudes of an ever increasing student population; 3. the provision of a core programme which includes social studies, general science and craft education, and 4. the expansion and improvement of facilities for the teaching of science.