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Education in Hong Kong
Hong KongEducation

Parents anger over continued drilling for TSA exams

TSA concern group is calling on parents to join their protest after a number of them felt that the city’s primary schools did not intend to put a stop to drilling exercises

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Citizens marched to Central Government Offices earlier this year to protest against the TSA tests. Photo: Sam Tsang
Raymond Yeung

Parents opposed to the Territory-wide System Assessment for students are refusing to heed requests from schools to purchase textbooks of drilling exercises for the exams for their children in the coming academic year.

Issuing a statement on its Facebook page, the TSA concern group is calling on parents to join their protest after a number of them felt that the city’s primary schools did not intend to put a stop to drilling exercises, despite an Education Bureau circular in December asking schools to stop arranging extra classes, training or mock exams.

The statement also named five primary schools which issued book lists with TSA exercises for prospective primary three students. Three of those even extended the exercises for prospective primary two pupils.

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But one of the schools, the Hong Kong Institute of Education Jockey Club Primary School, insisted the exercise books were only used as part of their curriculum.

A spokeswoman surnamed Tsang explained the books were selected because they covered a wide range of learning aspects, and emphasised the school had never drilled students in preparation for the TSA.

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Parents were angry that the schools seemed to have ignored their concerns and went ahead with the drilling.

“As parents, we definitely cannot be part of this unjust mechanism, which destroys our children’s learning ability and interest,” the statement read.

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