Prove it: Hong Kong lawmakers press education officials to show how schools benefit from controversial TSA exam
Legco panel deputy chairman calls lone example given by bureau ‘disappointing’
Lawmakers have called for the Education Bureau to provide more concrete evidence on the effectiveness of the controversial TSA in improving school standards, as they continue to push for the tests to be scrapped.
Lawmakers, including Wong Yuk-man, Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung and Ip, called on the bureau to explain how schools had benefited from over 10 years of data collected from the TSA.
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Deputy Secretary for Education Dr Catherine Chan Ka-ki replied that there had been overall improvements in TSA results over the years.
This prompted lawmakers to ask for concrete evidence and statistics showing how TSA had helped schools.
Lam Tai Fai, chairman of the panel, also questioned whether the improvement in TSA results came from drilling.
After being grilled by several lawmakers, Chan cited an example of a school that saw a 20 per cent improvement in English language abilities based on TSA data.