Hong Kong Education Bureau under fire for requiring schools to buy outdated items such as VHS video recorders and fax machines

Hong Kong’s education authority has come under fire for requiring primary schools to buy outdated equipment such as VHS video recorders, cassette players and electric typewriters, among some 500 items on a list.

The instructions by the Education Bureau were on Thursday highlighted by education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen, who said some of the items on the 56-page list were “ancient” and already phased out on the market.

Other equipment include slide and overhead projectors, colour TV sets in mobile cabinets and fax machines.

The “Furniture and Equipment List for New Schools”, updated by the bureau in May, is a collection of standard inventory. Under a new plan approved by the Legislative Council this year, a new primary school with 30 classrooms, for example, will receive HK$2.4 million for equipment and devices.

But Ip said some of the stated items were outdated. “Equipment in schools in Singapore have already entered into the future, but Hong Kong is still in an ancient era.”