Arts, literature take back seat as students opt for sciences

Physics and chemistry steal the limelight of 'practical choices' in a breakdown of the A-level results

A-level results released yesterday reveal that students are shunning creative arts and literature subjects in favour of sciences.

Nearly a third of the 36,000 candidates sat the two most popular subjects at A-level - physics and chemistry - while just 19 sat music, 133 art and 135 English literature.

As many as 11,659 students sat chemistry and 11,388 physics. The next most popular was economics, with 9,372 entries.

While almost 3,500 sat Chinese literature, Peter Chui Wing-tat, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Careers Masters and Guidance Masters, said: 'English literature has been phased out gradually. It has become a girls' subject, taken up only by girls' schools.'

Students chose subjects they thought would lead to better jobs. 'English literature digs into the refinement of the language. You need to read and think a lot. They are not interested in that. English language levels are dropping. Students are not so proficient so they are afraid of taking it up - not only literature but English subjects,' he said.

Professor Anna Kindler, dean of the Hong Kong Institute of Education's School of Creative Arts, Sciences and Technology, said she was very concerned that the number of students taking art was low and falling. 'It is a reflection of what is happening in schools,' she said. A survey of schools conducted by her department revealed just nine taught the subject at A-level.