EFFORTS will be stepped up to ensure schools teaching in English do not use a mixture of Chinese and English to boost standards, the education chief said yesterday.
In the wake of Friday's decision to allow 14 more secondary schools to teach in English, Secretary for Education and Manpower Joseph Wong Wing-ping warned they would be told to switch to teaching in the mother tongue if they did. Some 144 of the 400 secondary schools can now teach in English.
During appearances on Commercial Radio and Metro Radio Mr Wong said: 'We have been encouraging the schools to teach in the mother tongue. 'It turns out that the language standard of students is dropping.
If the English schools are performing well, why have English standards dropped? 'The schools not allowed to teach in English should not regard this as a punishment. 'We still emphasise that both the Chinese and English-language standards of students of those schools teaching in Chinese should be good.' Mr Wong added that the Education Department would monitor schools teaching in English. 'If they are found to be teaching in a mixture of languages, we will ask them to switch to teach in the mother tongue,' he said. About 300 parents of Salesian English School students said they would look to extra-curricular activities to develop their children's English skills. After meeting with school heads late last night, parents said they were unable to fight for another appeal.