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PTU launches campaign for smaller classes

80,000-member union mobilises parents as it petitions the government for an end to classes of between 35 and 40

The 80,000-member Professional Teachers' Union is to launch a 'battle for quality education' by taking action to try to force the government to give the go-ahead for smaller classes.

The campaign, which could last up to two years, will include petitioning the government, taking out newspaper advertisements and running signature campaigns in schools.

The PTU will also offer solidarity with university staff and students by joining a petition against funding cuts next month.

The union hopes to recruit parents in the fight and is holding a seminar today at the Christian Family Service Centre in Kwun Tong to launch the initiative.

Legislator and PTU president Cheung Man-kwong said: 'It is going to be a long battle for quality education.

'We hope parents will become one of the major forces in pushing for small-class teaching. It directly affects their children.'

The union and educators have demanded that classes be cut from 40 to between 23 and 35 for secondary schools, and from 35 to below 30 for primary schools.

They argue that the time is right for the change because the number of Primary One admissions has continued to drop in recent years with declining birth rates. Student population in secondary schools is also on the decline.

But the government argues that small-class teaching would be too costly and has ordered schools to cut the number of classes instead, leading to teacher redundancies.

Lam Seung-wan, a committee member of the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads' Association and principal of SKH Yat Sau Primary School, said small class teaching fitted in with education reform.

'This is more than just about a reduction in class sizes, it also means more room for interactive learning and innovative teaching methods,' he said.

His school experimented with smaller classes last September in a pilot scheme when Primary One students were split into groups of 22 to 25, at an additional cost of less than $150,000.

'It is far less costly than the Education and Manpower Bureau expected,'' he said.

He said he would press ahead with small-class teaching whether his school had financial support from the government or not. 'We will try other methods, like raising funds from the community, and look for donors who really care about education in Hong Kong.

'Even if the government decides not to offer us any financial help, it should at least help by providing information, research data and training on small class teaching methods, which are what we lack at the moment.'

Lai Kwok-chan, head of planning and academic implementation at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, one of the speakers at today's seminar, said education chief Arthur Li Kwok-cheung should take parents' views into account.

'They are taxpayers. They should have a say in education policy. Unlike more than a decade ago, many parents now have only one or two children and they care very much about the quality of their education. There is clear support for small-class teaching from people from all walks of life.''

Acknowledging the government's financial constraints, he added that small classes need not be implemented at all levels.

'There can be various options. Small-class teaching is most effective for junior primary students. Overseas research has shown that children taught in small classes in lower grades also do well academically and are able to participate better in the classroom when they are in larger classes at senior grades,' he said.

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