A $521-million-a-year handout to raise standards in schools was announced yesterday as officials confirmed the scrapping of a controversial test for primary students.
The abolition of the 22-year-old Academic Aptitude Test, used to grade the performance of pupils at primary schools, was endorsed by the Executive Council yesterday.
The test was supposed to reduce pressure on pupils by testing logic and reasoning rather than academic knowledge, but had led to excessive drilling as schools competed with each other.
Pupils joining Primary Six this September will be the first to be spared the test.
Antony Leung Kam-chung, chairman of the Education Commission, the Government's think-tank on education policy, said: 'We hope parents can make use of the summer holidays to arrange more extracurricular activities for their children since they don't have to prepare for the test now.' The scrapping of the test was followed by an announcement that primary schools would each be given an extra $550,000 a year and secondary schools an extra $300,000. It is understood primary schools are getting the bigger share because they often have to survive on relatively meagre budgets. The $521 million is coming from $800 million reserved for education reforms pledged in the Budget in March.
Secretary for Education and Manpower Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun said: 'We really want schools to channel their energy [from preparing for the test] to enhancing moral education, language proficiency and extra-curricular activities.
