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Letters | No equality in Hong Kong without equal access to quality education

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Last-minute revisions as students wait to be seated for the Diploma of Secondary Education exam at a school in Tsuen Wan in April 2020. Photo: Felix Wong

I am a volunteer tutor, teaching accounting to many Form Six students. Every year, I suffer the same frustration of powerlessness: although I have only a few months to coach them before the public examination, I find students severely lack basic knowledge of their subject, which makes effective teaching difficult.

Once, when discussing this with me during our first lesson, they said that their teacher just showed PowerPoint slides and read the textbook to them without effectively explaining the ideas. I checked their notes from school and their marked exam papers, and was shocked to find some appalling factual errors.

This is deplorable. Many of my students are diligent and determined to succeed. However, the education system dooms them to failure.

Proper education should at least qualify the underprivileged to get a job and improve their situation. However, for many so-called Band 3 schools, the proportion of Form Six graduates getting level-2 scores in five subjects, the minimum required for admission to sub-degree programmes, can be as low as 20 per cent or less.

03:14

On Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education exam results day, emotions run high

On Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education exam results day, emotions run high

Children from wealthy families can go to a decent school with good teachers, and go to private tutors for extra help. But for many underprivileged students, their futures are at risk at the hands of irresponsible teachers, who may not have a complete grasp of their subject or may lack the passion to help students lagging behind. Education inequality has contributed to the persistent widening of the wealth gap in Hong Kong.

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