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SCMP Reporter

THE grading system for Form Five graduates may be modified because of a continuous decline in the pass rate in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination.

  This year's exam, which drew 640,000 entries (by 120,555 candidates) in 41 subjects, saw 60.7 per cent of the entry figure obtain grade E or above - a drop of 2.2 per cent over last year.

  It was latest in a series of declines since 1991's 63.5 per cent.

  English Language (Syllabus B) drew the biggest number of candidates. Among the 107,060 candidates, 56 per cent scored grade E or above.

  Chinese Language attracted 86,454 candidates and 57.5 per cent of them passed.

 Examinations Authority secretary Choi Chee-cheong said the fall of the percentage of grade E or above was due to a tightening of grading procedures across the board to maintain the standards represented by the traditional grades.

  He said tests carried out every two years on a control group - the schools whose students' performance had been stable in the past years - had recently shown a mild drop at the grade E or above level.

  ''We have tightened up the grading procedure to maintain the academic standard. But some students could not cope with that and fewer of them got grade E or above.

  ''The results showed that the gap between the top and the bottom students is widening,'' he said.

  Mr Choi said the authority was planning to modify the grading system for Form Five students to give poorer performing students another kind of recognition.

  A working group with representatives from the Education Department, tertiary institutes, secondary schools and the Examinations Authority was studying two options: a core curriculum and a modular examination approach.

  Various youth voluntary groups have set up hotline services to answer students' or parents' questions about the exam and admission.

  The Hok Yau Club is running an around-the-clock hotline (with 25 lines, number 503-3399). The service will run until tomorrow.

  The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups has also set up a hotline with the number 777-8899. It will be operated until Thursday, from 9.30 am to 2 pm.



Rethink as exam pass rate drops