Hong Kong’s pressure-cooker education system continues to make headlines with a new survey highlighting the long-standing problem of stressed-out students.
A third of Hong Kong students are suffering from stress, anxiety or depression due to schools’ stressful learning environment, according to a study by the Hong Kong Playground Association.
Though the Education Bureau has worked to revamp the system, including an update of a controversial assessment for primary three pupils, the survey has prompted a need for a deeper re-evaluation of the system.
The revised assessment was tested out last week but the continued stressful experience for all involved implies that there will be renewed calls to scrap the exam.
Last week, randomly selected students from about 500 subsidised primary schools sat for written Chinese, English and maths papers for the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA).
The random selection aims to reduce the pressure of excessive drilling on primary three pupils. Schools are also denied reports of overall cohort performance.
However, schools can get the report if they opt to enrol the entire cohort for the exam. As about 230 schools chose that option, concerns remain that students are still being drilled for the exam.
A survey by a parent association claimed that 62% of their children are facing “very high” or “high” levels of stress, with most relating it to the TSA.
Some parents said that the amount of homework increases exponentially in the lead-up to the TSA, with students spending an additional three hours a day after school to complete the exercises.
Parents were not the only concerned group – teachers have also voiced out that despite tweaks in the assessment, the experience continues to be a stressful one for all.
The city’s Professional Teachers’ Union released a recent survey saying that the TSA brought about “very high” or “high” levels of pressure on teachers and students.
Of the 509 primary schoolteachers surveyed, about a quarter admitted that their schools drilled pupils “a lot” or “quite a lot”, with the figure going up to 30% for schools prepping for the TSA.
One principal asserted that his school did not drill its students for the TSA and had only given them an internal mock exam.
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung however countered that drilling had been “reduced drastically” since the TSA revision, reported South China Morning Post.
The Education Bureau has promised to continue monitoring schools and will take action if schools were found to be practicing the drilling technique on pupils.
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