The first Principals' Conference was held Friday in Hong Kong to provide educational practitioners with a platform to exchange ideas and experiences on the issue.

The Principals' Conference, with the theme Breaking New Ground: Steering and Strategies, was jointly organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council and the Subsidized Primary Schools Council.

The conference aimed to provide a unique and distinguished opportunity for school principals and deputies to focus on their issues of concern, exchange ideas and experiences, and voice out their perspectives.

President of Hong Kong Institute of Education Paul Morris expressed his view on education at the Conference that school principals' abilities to improve schools and implement changes are greatly dependent on teachers.

He said that it is important to support and encourage the teaching profession and to find ways to attract people into the profession, and respect for the teaching profession is a value that is especially significant and relevant nowadays.

He also suggested that teacher educators, school personnel and members of the government should cooperate and take initiative to locate the source of problems, including school bullying, student suicide and the decreasing standard of students' language level, to create a better environment for school students to grow.

Renowned education practitioners, policy-makers and other educators were also invited to discuss issues related to educational reforms in a forum, highlight of the conference, and the organizers planned to summarize recommendations in the form ofa statement and submit it to the government.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2004)