Mother-tongue teaching good for students

There have been heated debates involving parents, schools and Education Department officials, about whether or not Chinese should be used as the teaching medium.

As a Form Seven student of Pui Ching, a renowned Chinese middle school, I am a supporter of 'mother-tongue' teaching.

Some parents insist that using English as the medium of teaching will help students do better at English. They always emphasise the importance of English in Hong Kong today. It seems to me that these parents think that English is the most important subject in education.

They seem to ignore the fact that a student should be well educated in a variety of subjects. Given the importance of a student having as wide an education as possible, it is important that mother tongue should be used as the teaching medium.

There is no doubt that students will perform better in subjects if they fully understand what they are being taught. They don't need to waste time continually checking the dictionary in order to find out the meaning of an English passage, nor do they have to continually check their spelling.

For example, in a subject like geography, the student will not have to memorise the English spelling. The student will then have more time to concentrate on his English lessons.

I am not trying to underplay the importance of English.