NETs should be replaced by locals
Many people noticed the falling standards of English of those going through the Hong Kong public educational system since 1997.
Your correspondent Cecilia Li said as much ('Disappointed by standard of English', July 10).
Ironically, it is also in this same period of 13 years that huge amounts of taxpayers' money have been spent on placing a native English-speaking teachers (NETs) in most local schools. Many of these NETS with experience are paid like bankers, yet for all that, the results of their placement are negative, as students pick up less English than before.
It must be hard for the Education Bureau to justify such generous monthly benefits packages for some of these NETs. Are they really worth three or four times the salary of a local English teacher? Do they contribute so much more? If we can judge by results, all the money spent on them is wasted.
Instead of throwing away more money on NETS, public funds could be put to better use by providing extra tutorials with local teachers for the many students who are failing in English.
Rob Leung, Wan Chai