Schoolchildren and parent representatives gave testimonials against the government’s TSA system in a LegCouncil hearing last Sunday, during which pro-Beijing speakers and politicians spoke out in defence of the assessment.
The Territory-wide Student Assessment (TSA) was introduced in 2004 as a city-wide assessment to evaluate the standard of English, Chinese, and mathematics in Primary Three, Primary Six, and Form Three students, and has been criticised for its hefty addition to students’ workloads.
A parent told the panel that her daughter has suffered low self-esteem due to the workload and difficulty of the TSA preparation.
Once, the child cried and asked “What is the purpose of life? Is it just for doing homework?” she told the panel.
Another parent slammed the absent Secretary of Education Eddie Ng – who was away for “personal reasons” – for sacrificing the wellbeing of students for “cold data”, according to Mingpao.
Primary Three student, Hung Ngai-yam, said his schoolwork has prevented him from even the one hour of daily exercise recommended by the government.
“I hope you adults can do something to change this”, Hung said.
Another Primary Three student, Poon Long-kiu, told the panel that he studied at school from 7am to 8pm every day to adequately prepare for TSA on top of regular schoolwork.
After hearing primary school principal Fung Pik-yee state that her school had been pressured to perform from the Education Bureau, who reportedly said that their school was doing comparatively worse due to their refusal to drill students.
Acting Secretary of Education Kevin Yeung claimed to be surprised, and that if what Fung said was true, it was “serious and unacceptable”. Yet he also insisted that cancelling TSA may not be the only solution to the current issues, and asked for time to evaluate the scheme.
Pro-Beijing politicians were quick to defend the government’s position.
DAB Lawmaker Ann Chiang claimed a study from her party concluded that parents acknowledged the importance of the scheme, and that over-preparation was the root of the problem.
DAB member Chan Chung-cheung told the panel that he believes TSA was “not as horrible as it sounds” and has not undermined his relationship with his daughter. He rather boldly stated that cancelling the scheme would “violate the rights of the parents who otherwise supported it”, and also claimed that most parents in the school favoured TSA.
Chan’s daughter, Primary Four student Ying-sum from Yau Ma Tei Catholic Primary School, spoke in favour of the scheme, and claimed she “very much enjoyed TSA”.
She said – reading from a script – that TSA was similar to normal examinations but “much easier”. Her speech also touched on Ann Chiang’s point that preparation, rather than TSA, is the problem, while citing a recent traffic accident outside her school as an example.
“Do we need to ask the government to cordon off the entire road?” she said.
The schoolgirl later admitted the script was written by her father (no, really?!). The primary school later issued a statement distancing itself from the Chans’ statements, and indicated that 52% of parents were in fact against TSA.
The controversy started after Primary Three students started an online petition this year calling for the abolishment of TSA, which has been met with widespread support from students, parents and teachers alike. The government has maintained their stance amid the opposition and has insisted the scheme would remain in place.
Photo: Mingpao screenshot
