TV flops
WATCHING TELEVISION in class is great! Students love watching TV programmes instead of listening to the teacher talk, right? Wrong!
You are mistaken if you thought that educational television (ETV) programmes were popular with students. For most, the programmes are anything but interesting, and watching them is a routine.
According to a recent report by the Audit Commission, even though Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) spent an average of $58 million on ETV production last year ($290,000 per episode), ratings remained low.
Only 18 per cent (43,000) of local secondary school students said they watched ETV programmes on a regular basis.
Last year, RTHK produced a total of 196 ETV programmes for Primary One to Form Three students. The programmes went on air over a period of 32 weeks from September to June. Programme topics included English, Chinese, mathematics and science.
'The Education Department has issued guidelines on how to make use of the programmes. They normally recommend students watch them every week,' said maths teacher Chan Chi-keung.
'However, it is difficult to watch every episode because we don't even have enough time during lessons to finish our textbooks, let alone [watch all] the programmes,' he said.
Mr Chan added that many ETV programmes were outdated because they were only revised every four or five years. The programmes 'don't seem to be appealing to students at all', he said.
Student Mui Yuet-wan, 14, said: 'I enjoyed watching ETV programmes when I was in primary school because it was a lot of fun watching TV in class.
'But now they do nothing but put me to sleep. They are really silly. To make things worse, many of the programmes were made a long time ago. The child actors who appeared in them are grown-ups now.'
Fung Yung-ting, 16, said: 'I can't believe that it costs almost $300,000 for a single episode. I just can't figure out how the money is spent.'
Yung-ting said the poor quality programmes nevertheless provide an opportunity for her to 'relax' in class.
