Pupils call for education review

TWENTY secondary school students called for a review of the education system in their own ‘policy address’, saying the current system is putting huge pressure on students.
The Secondary Two to Four students took part in the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong’s (香港小童群益會) ‘Junior Chief Executives’ (香港小特首) programme. They investigated different policy aspects, including school time, examinations, quality of rest and suicide issues.
They interviewed 240 of their peers in Secondary One to Three, and found that one-third had to take three or more tests per week, while 40 percent had to take one to two tests per week.
This added up to 78 tests or dictations in the school year – more than 40 percent of the total school days. About 60 percent of the interviewees had to revise six to 10 subjects for exams; one-fourth of them revised at least three times a week.
Participant Cherrie Chan Hei-yiu (陳晞蕊) noted about 95 percent of interviewees found tests left them stressed, while 90 percent said the unsatisfactory results affected them emotionally.
The students urged the government to encourage primary and junior secondary schools to use afternoon class time for activities, such as outdoor teaching.
Participant Lee Nok-yiu (李諾瑤) said, “Students often find it difficult to focus in the afternoon as they have a lot of lessons in the morning, reducing the effectiveness in learning.”

(This article is published on Junior Standard on 11 December 2017)

Hong Kong Junior Chief Executives
http://goo.gl/DsjsHK

Rights of Children Amid Examination and Schoolwork Stress
http://goo.gl/eB3f4y