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Stella Lee

NEARLY 40,000 Primary Six pupils capable of learning more effectively in Chinese than English will not go to Chinese-medium schools in September, the Education Department revealed last night.

  The figures underlined a mismatch between pupils' abilities and the language in which most secondary schools teach.

  The department, which today tells parents where children will study, said that of 85,263 pupils, only 9,940, or 11.7 per cent, had been allocated to schools that taught mainly in Chinese.

  This was despite its findings that nearly 59 per cent of Primary Six pupils could not learn effectively in English. Only one-third could learn effectively in either English or Chinese.

  Fifty-six per cent, or 48,053 pupils, were given places in schools that use English as the main medium of instruction.

  Some 3,764 pupils will be sent to schools where language is determined by class and 22,481 where it is determined by subject.

   The rest will go to schools where the medium is determined by both class and subject.

  The mismatch was predicted in a survey which found 223 secondary schools, or 57 per cent, had opted for English as the major teaching medium and only 52 schools decided to use mainly Chinese.

   The figures were released hours after the Education Commission was accused of making impractical suggestions for the promotion of mother-tongue teaching.

  The commission's long-awaited report on language proficiency, released for three months' consultation, carried 28 recommendations from policy formulation to teacher education designed to improve pupils' language proficiency.

  The commission supported the present policy of encouraging teaching in the mother-tongue in kindergarten, but proposed an alternative approach at primary level.

  It said teaching should focus on Chinese from Primary One to Three and English should not be stressed until Primary Four.

 The report said the Government's role was to encourage kindergartens and schools to develop various models of bilingual development.

  It should ensure parents were supplied with information about different schools and their curriculums, and advice on the predicted outcomes at the end of primary education.

  But educationalists said yesterday they expected there would be few schools willing to try the alternative approach because of parental opposition.

  Vice-president of the Professional Teachers' Union, Au Pak-kuen, said it would not be enough for the Government simply to ''encourage'' schools to promote mother-tongue teaching.

  ''It is passing the responsibility on to the schools,'' he said.

  What the Education Department should do was co-ordinate with schools to make sure those willing to teach in Chinese made the change simultaneously.

  Many had agreed to do this, Mr Au said.

  Ip Kin-yuen, convenor of Meeting Point's educational policy working group, also doubted whether the recommendation would work.

  In order to meet the wishes of parents, most kindergartens give English language lessons.

  The commission's chairman, Professor Rosie Young Tse-tse, predicted difficulties in convincing parents to accept mother-tongue teaching.

  But she said it was important to allow parents to choose the approach they preferred based on the relevant information given.

  The report also said: ''It would not be feasible for the Government to require any child to attend a school offering an alternative model.''       The report recommended improved language-teacher training and predicted a shortage of qualified language teachers for some years.



Figures highlight language mismatch