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SCMP Reporter

Education chiefs are considering tightening controls on what students learn.

 They said that as technology gathered pace, children were increasingly using the Internet as well as textbooks.

 Board of Education chairman Moses Cheng Mo-chi said it was time to review procedures for monitoring textbooks and subsidiary learning materials.

 The move has been backed by board vice-chairman and Director of Education Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun.

 They said the move would ensure students received good quality material to study.

 But a critic warned that it could give the authorities the chance to exercise thought control.

 Legislator and president of the Professional Teachers Union Cheung Man-kwong urged the department to define its role clearly.

 'The best role for the Government to play in this issue is not to have any direct participation,' he said.

 'Neither guidelines to publishers nor any sort of co-operation with other institutes in publishing books should be considered.

 'This would give the Government a channel to control people's thoughts. It would also send a very bad message to other countries,' he said.

 The board yesterday discussed the function of textbooks and how the department could monitor quality of other learning materials.

 Mr Cheng said members agreed a change in the role of textbooks and their significance as a teaching or learning resource was needed.

 He said the significance of textbooks was diminishing as schools were using more supplementary materials.

 'Textbooks are no longer the only resources for learning. There are many other materials such as those obtained from the Internet. The role of the Education Department in monitoring these materials should be reviewed.' He said new guidelines for publishers might be set and the possibility of using more research-based textbooks could be explored.

 It was proposed that the department could work with tertiary institutions in publishing other learning materials.



Monitoring of learning materials under review