Legislators have welcomed plans to modernise the way exams are marked, although some have questioned the speed at which the changes are to be introduced and measures to ensure accuracy during the transition.
The proposals, which were presented yesterday at a meeting of the Legislative Council's panel on education, call for a $155 million grant to introduce on-screen marking at centralised facilities. At present, exam markers take scripts home to mark in their own time.
Francis Cheung Wing-ming, deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, told the panel meeting the reforms were intended to cut down on human error and minimise the chance of exam scripts being lost or markers correcting exams in unsecure locations.
Dr Cheung said they could allow the authority to deliver exam results three to four weeks earlier, 'if everything goes smoothly'.
The authority has come under fire in recent years over a series of blunders, including lost papers and marking errors.
In September, two senior IT staff were sacked after they were found to be responsible for 670 students receiving lower marks than they deserved in an English oral exam.
An investigation by the ombudsman last year discovered the authority had lost 77 exam papers over five years.