The new chair of the Education Commission, Rosanna Wong Yick-ming, says her main areas of concern are pupils' English proficiency and the anxieties many teachers feel about reform. Ms Wong, who took up the post of head of the Government's think-tank on education yesterday, said she would spend the first two months canvassing the views of frontline educators and educational bodies. 'Since I was appointed as commission chairwoman last month, the declining language proficiency in English and Chinese has been the primary area of concern shared by the people I have met,' she said. Ms Wong, who is also executive director of the Hong Kong Federation of Youth, added: 'The writing and oral skills in both languages of the new generation has generally declined. We have to find the reasons.' She said she supported mother-tongue education and it was evident that pupils taught in Chinese were more eager to learn since the policy was introduced in 1998. Ms Wong insisted that mother-tongue teaching would not lead to a decline in English-language proficiency. She also said she supported universities switching from a three-year to a four-year system. She would try her best to win the trust of teachers, whose support was vital for the success of reforms. 'In the coming two months, I will meet teachers to see whether they can cope with the pace of reform and ascertain their anxiety towards the measures. Teachers deserve respect from our society.' Ms Wong said some members of the public might feel that too many reforms were being put forward simultaneously. 'It's only a problem of communication. Actually the Government has reiterated that the proposals will be implemented gradually.' She said she would emphasise smooth implementation. 'I know well that there may be a certain degree of discrepancy between the principles of reform proposals and their implementation.'
