Bid to limit Cantonese in teaching Chinese language
The government's advisory body on language education is proposing to spend HK$200 million to help schools use Putonghua as the medium of instruction for Chinese language, a source revealed yesterday.
The scheme, which could start at the beginning of the 2008 academic year, is expected to run for more than three years. In addition to financial support, qualifying schools would get Putonghua teaching advice from mainland experts.
The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (Scolar) meets today to discuss the plan before asking the Education Bureau for money from the Language Fund.
Concern groups have been calling for Putonghua to be used as the medium of instruction for Chinese language subjects since the handover to improve the standard of Chinese among Hong Kong students. The Legislative Council's Finance Committee approved a budget of HK$200 million in February 2005 to improve language education.
To qualify, schools must demonstrate competence in teaching Chinese in Putonghua and be ready to switch 40 per cent of Chinese language teaching from Cantonese to Putonghua after three years. About 30 primary and 10 secondary schools would be approved each year, the source, who asked not to be identified, said.
Putonghua Chinese language teachers must pass the Putonghua benchmark test and obtain a Grade B, Level two, in Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi set by the central government's State Language Commission.