Results of teachers' appeals should be known first, say education groups
Education groups yesterday criticised the government for rushing schools into deciding whether to sack or redeploy language teachers who failed to pass the benchmark test two years into their jobs.
They said some teachers were still capable of teaching the subject despite failing the English test. They urged the Education and Manpower Bureau not to force schools to decide the teachers' futures until results of their appeals were released next month.
Half of the 643 English-language teachers and 252 Putonghua teachers who joined the profession two years ago have failed to meet the benchmark requirements. They are spread among 334 primary and secondary schools, with 17 of these schools having at least three unqualified teachers.
According to the bureau's policy, the schools had until yesterday to either lay off the unqualified teachers or assign them to other teaching duties.
Ho Hon-kuen, vice-president of Education Convergence, said he had received many complaints from English teachers who were capable of teaching the subject despite failing the test.
'One teacher I know used to represent the English debating team of Chinese University of Hong Kong, taking part in many overseas debating competitions, and another one had studied for two years for a master's degree in a prestigious university in England,' Mr Ho said.