It’s no more efficient than Cantonese, but Putonghua still the long-term objective for all Hong Kong schools
Officials say that use of national language should be long-term goal for teaching Chinese in schools
The education authorities will press ahead with using Putonghua to teach Chinese as the long-term objective for all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, even though a consultative study found no evidence that this would be more efficient than using Cantonese.
The Education Bureau released the study on Monday, following strong public calls for its release after it was revealed that the Education University submitted the study to the bureau in September last year.
Brouhaha over Putonghua is a recipe for failure
The study was conducted by the university, formerly the Institute of Education, from March 2012 to February last year with an in-depth study of four local schools.
The study found students participated more actively when teachers used Cantonese as the medium of instruction.
The study found that students in Putonghua classes performed better academically than those in Cantonese classes, but noted that this could be affected by the fact that schools grouped better performing students into Putonghua classes.
