Activists step up efforts to get rid of controversial Hong Kong exam

Opponents of a Hong Kong competence assessment test – widely criticised for the undue stress it puts on young children – have intensified their efforts to scrap the exam, setting up street booths across the city to urge parents of Primary Three pupils to boycott it.

Concern group Parents United of Hong Kong, and lawmakers, including those from the Democratic Party, Civic Party, Labour Party and Professional Teachers’ Union, set up 56 stations across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories.

The volunteers handed out flyers and stickers, explaining the negative effects of the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) on students. They also prepared a letter template so parents who wish to have their child skip the exam can submit it to the school, stressing they have the right to exempt their children from taking the controversial test.

The TSA, originally designed as a tool to enhance learning and teaching, has in recent years become notoriously synonymous with the city’s high pressure education. Some educators claimed the assessment had been used as a basis to determine school closures, but the Education Bureau had repeatedly denied such claims.

The bureau announced in January that a revamped and less demanding format – tested in around 50 schools last year – eliminated the incentive to over-drill. It also added that Primary Three pupils in all government-subsidised schools would have to take part in a research study this year, involving a new exam called the Basic Competency Assessment (BCA).