Chinese history subject loses out in new Hong Kong exams
Smaller percentage of students choose to take the subject after education overhaul
Only one in 10 candidates for this year's DSE exams is sitting the Chinese history exam, far fewer than under the old school system, the latest government figures show.
The Diploma of Secondary Education exams, started in 2012, transformed Hong Kong's education system from the British style of seven years in secondary school - with Certificate of Education exams in year five and A-levels in year seven - to six years of secondary schooling - with the one set of exams in the final year.
This year, 6,318 out of more than 62,500 DSE candidates have applied to take the Chinese history exam, accounting for 10 per cent, according to government figures released yesterday.
In 2012, the last year under the old system, about 15 per cent of candidates chose to take Chinese history as one of their A-levels - the exams which determined if students could enter universities.
Back in 2010, in the last Certificate of Education exams - which decided if students could go on to take their A-levels - around 32 per cent chose the subject.
Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim said DSE candidates generally chose only two to three non-required courses, while under the old system students picked four to five elective courses. "It is inappropriate to make straightforward, simplistic comparisons between the two sets of figures," he added.
Studying Chinese history is compulsory at junior secondary level but elective at senior level.
Some educators and lawmakers have been urging the government to make the subject compulsory at senior level as well, in order to increase students' understanding about China.
But education sector legislator Ip Kin-yuen said a survey by the Professional Teachers' Union, of which Ip is vice-president, showed that most secondary school principals and teachers felt that the subject should remain elective at senior level.
He said most educators believed the curriculum was too difficult and had too much content for students to memorise, which had been scaring students away. He said if the education authorities could make it less difficult, it would attract more students to take the subject.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced in his policy address last month that the government had set up a special committee to review how Chinese history is taught. The committee is supposed to submit a report to the government in May or June.
