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Drilling students for TSA tests are not for the students' benefits, but to boost the schools' rankings according to the bureau's internal benchmarks. Photo: AFP
Alex Loin Toronto

It's the shameless versus the spineless. Two school associations have denounced the Education Bureau for sending a warning letter last week to primary schools not to drill pupils before they take the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) test.

But what's wrong with the warning when we all know most primary schools drill - sometimes mercilessly - their students to get higher scores in the TSA's language and maths tests.

This is not for the students' benefits, but to boost the schools' rankings according to the bureau's internal benchmarks.

The scandal is not that the bureau sent out the warning, but to have been so late to do so after having tolerated the schools' dirty drilling for more than a decade when it has been an open secret.

READ MORE: Schools violating policy against extra TSA drills may get written warnings, says Education Minister

Essentially, the drilling has rendered the whole TSA system meaningless.

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