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Campaigners say the the Primary Three test should be scrapped because it imposes excessive pressure on pupils. Photo: Nora Tam

Nearly 40,000 parents join campaign to scrap ‘too difficult’ Hong Kong primary school exam: can YOU pass it?

Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim has refused to budge on cancelling city-wide exams for Primary Three pupils as he dismissed suggestions that the controversial tests placed undue pressure on the youngsters and their educators.

Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim has refused to budge on cancelling city-wide exams for Primary Three pupils as he dismissed suggestions that the controversial tests placed undue pressure on the youngsters and their educators.

"Scrapping the tests would mean that we are going backwards. We should address the problem of excessive drilling," Ng told reporters at a cocktail reception yesterday. "Students need to experience the joy of learning. Therefore I am strongly against the idea of imposing drills on students."

However, education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen, accused Ng of skirting responsibility and putting the blame on schools for forcing students to take part in drilling exercises in order to cope with the tests, known as the Territory-wide System Assessment.

"This is really unfair to schools," Ip said. "The Education Bureau keeps asking underperforming schools to improve their test results but the paper questions are really hard for the students to answer within such a short time frame."

TAKE THE EXAM: Can you answer this Hong Kong Primary Three maths test?

He added: "Schools have no option but to impose drills on students so they can cope with the tests."

Ip urged Ng to develop a better grasp of the situation and address the mounting pressure pupils faced as a result of the test.

Meanwhile, calls to cancel the tests for Primary Three pupils continued to escalate last night after more than 38,000 parents signed a Facebook petition threatening to boycott them.

Campaign organiser Clement Kam Yee-ling said once the number of supporters reached 50,000, he would issue an open letter to the Education Bureau demanding that the tests be scrapped because of the high pressure he said they exerted on pupils.

He also called on schools not to punish those who refused to do drills for the tests after the bureau published a Chinese-language article yesterday reminding schools not to force the pupils to do the exercises.

The tests were launched in 2004 to assess abilities in Chinese, English and maths to help the bureau keep track of pupils' progress and schools' academic standards. The tests are held for Primary Three and Six and Form Three pupils at government-funded schools.

The primary-level exams are not used as a reference when graduates are allocated secondary school places.

However, some schools faced pressure to improve their assessment results, which led to teachers drilling pupils for the exams in addition to teaching the regular curriculum.

Subsequently, many schools set up after-school tutoring sessions, including extra homework. Some required Primary Three and Six pupils to purchase additional assessment exercise books for the drills.

Complaints came from both educators and parents that the tests were too difficult and that too much drilling deprived pupils of an enjoyable school life.

Over the weekend, New People's Party lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun attempted the Primary Six maths paper. He failed the test, attaining just 11 correct answers out of 23 questions.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Education chief says tests will stay put
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