SCHOOLS: NO TIGER. (cover story)

HONG Kong (China); CHINA

The article discusses how the education system in Hong Kong will be affected when China takes control on July 1, 1997. Hong Kong is a rich Asian Tiger with a second-rate education system. The problems run deep. Some 85% of the territory's grade school students go only part-time because there are not enough schools. Hong Kong's new leaders promise change, vowing to turn Hong Kong into a 21st century high-technology hub for southern China. New schools, smaller classes, better teachers and computers are all on the agenda. In 1997, for the first time, students will be allowed to study in their native Cantonese instead of having to switch to English in secondary school, a practice that resulted in kids mastering neither their lessons nor English nor Chinese.