March 28 2014, Friday
Study Rooms
I took my Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) in
1965. Education was
not yet free or compulsory and HKCEE was still
administered by the Education Department. Many girls of my age were working in the textile
factories and getting good income to support their families which unlike today were
quite big in size with five or more children.
We were a family of eight
children crammed in a small flat of less than 300 square feet with one room let
out to minimize the rent. So in the evening, there would be ten of us together
with the three tenants, a couple and the wife’s brother from Macau in the
apartment. Wireless television was not yet introduced though there was already subscription
cable television offering several hours of both English language and Chinese
language programmes. As the fees were high, not too many families did
subscribe. Listening to the radio would be almost the only entertainment! My
father had the radio on the whole day! And all we had during the hot summer
would be the electric fan!
The apartment was no place for
studying! Luckily, I had discovered a nice and cool place to study not too far
away from home - the Kai Tak Airport. I walked from To Kwa Wan to the airport
and read my books there for hours. As air traffic was not too busy, I could
study undisturbed.
These days, there are
air-conditioned study rooms all over Hong Kong. The Education Bureau is
concerned about the provision of “a quiet place for students to study,
especially for those residing in crowded and noisy homes”. That would be me!
In 2014, the Education Bureau
provides subvention for 41 study rooms with about 5,200 seats in public housing
estates. In addition, about 180 study rooms with around 10,600 seats are
self-financed or subvented by various government departments as well as non-government
organizations. In the 2013-2014 financial year, the funds required for subsidizing
study rooms in public housing estates was about $5.2 million. Obviously, this generation has
their needs well attended to while our generation had to face adversity on our
own. Which generation is more fortunate? Well, with hindsight, I think my
generation is – bitterness before sweetness and that makes sweetness even
sweeter!
