Macau's ban on first-year kindergarten writing has some in Hong Kong pondering following suit

An education lawmaker called on parents and teachers in Hong Kong to reflect on how writing should be taught to kids in the city after neighbouring Macau introduced regulations to remove writing from the teaching curriculum for its first-year kindergarten students.

Starting from last month, children in Macau are spared from taking writing lessons in their first year of pre-school as part of a reform to promote balanced development of young pupils.

The guideline, issued by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau of Macau, said: “The first year of infant education shall not include the teaching of writing” and “teachers shall never force K1 students to write”.

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Hong Kong education lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen welcomed Macau’s move and thought Hong Kong could also thoroughly discuss how writing should be taught to kids.

“Macau is very different from Hong Kong,” said Ip. “There is an emphasis on pushing kids to learn how to write early in Hong Kong pre-schools. It’s not good for the long-term growth of children.”

“But situations vary from school to school. Some are very extreme and some are better,” he added, saying the local situation had improved. “Twenty years ago, I saw pre-school kids who had to write the word ‘butterfly’ [in Chinese] 100 times. Now, they only need to copy it five times.”

If there are any changes in regulations, Ip believes parents in Hong Kong must first rethink their expectations for their children.

“Kindergartens in Hong Kong are all privately-run and their curriculum is influenced by parents’ demands,” Ip said.