The education sector of Macao will enter a new stage as the relevant laws promulgated in recent years will be implemented and improved after the territory returns to the motherland.

Sou Chio Fai, sub-director of the Education and Youth Services, made the remarks at a news briefing on December 16. His department is responsible for making and implementing long-term education plans and its framework will basically remain unchanged after the handover.

Education sector has developed rapidly over the past decade and will be attached with greater importance in future, Sou said, noting that the government's goal is to enable children, aged 5-15, to enjoy the right of compulsory education.

According to law here, children in Macao are granted a 10-year long compulsory schooling period covering pre-school, primary school and junior middle school education.

In the history, Macao has been a key place for cultural exchanges between the East and the West and Asia's first western-style college was founded here. However, Macao had not standardized its education system with law until 1991. For the past nine years, he said, the Macao Government has issued over 60 laws and regulations on education.

Currently, Macao has 113 schools, with public-funded ones only accounting for 15 percent and 85 percent owned by individuals. Eighty-three percent of the private schools have also joined the public education system to provide compulsory education to children.

In 1996, the government published a law to specify the qualifications of teachers. Up to now, there are 3,801 teachers in Macao, mostly working in primary and middle schools.

"In recent years, Macao has set up more schools to meet the needs of the growing population," Sou said. Since 1993, over 30 new educational institutions have been added in the territory, making up 20 percent of the total and providing schooling for more than 20,000 students.

A latest survey shows that Macao ranks fifth among 40 Asian cities in terms of investment in education. In recent years, the government input in the sector has averaged one billion Patacas annually.

To meet the needs of post-handover Macao, the government has been revising the curricula with help of experts from Beijing, Hong Kong and the region.

According to the official, beginning last year, the majority of local schools have adopted Chinese and Portuguese as their teaching languages, while in public primary schools, students have begun to learn Putonghua, or Chinese Mandarin, from the fourth year. Now 90 percent of private schools have also opened classes on Putonghua. (Xinhua)