Parents dunces on education policies
Parents have failed a test on their children's education, with many ignorant of government policies and what they can do, according to a survey released yesterday.
More than 40 per cent of parents thought they had to follow government decisions on which schools their children should go to and 17 per cent believed school principals could beat pupils, a practice banned in 1991.
The study by the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organisation surveyed 1,763 parents with children in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.
'Many parents are in the dark about education policies and how their children are being affected,' organisation chairman Mervyn Cheung Man-ping said.
The survey is the first to study the general education knowledge of parents in Hong Kong. It consisted of 16 questions about education policies, to which respondents had to answer true, false or not sure.
It found only 36 per cent of parents answered correctly that kindergarten education was not mandatory for entry to primary schools.
About one in 10 thought students completing Form Seven could go to university.
One in three believed all secondary school teachers were university graduates.
Tang Chee-shing, principal of Sheng Kung Hui Kei Oi School in Shamshuipo, said parents who knew more would be able to help their children.
All schools should set up parent-teacher associations.
'Schools should be more transparent and allow parents to observe classes, for example,' Mr Tang said.
Vice-chairman of the Sha Tin Government Secondary School parent-teacher association, Ng Lo Fung-yee, said less than half of secondary schools and one in five primary schools had such associations.
