The government's advisers on secondary school allocation policy say the number of school bands are likely stay at three after 2005, despite fierce criticisms from some English-medium schools.
Three years ago, the government reduced the number of secondary school bands from five to three on an interim basis and abolished the Academic Aptitude Test (AAT) - a centralised test for moderating Primary Six students' school results. The move was aimed at minimising the labelling and drilling of primary students.
In the next couple of weeks it is to commission a committee to review the mechanism and determine long-term policy.
Tai Hay-lap, who chairs the Education Commission's working group on school places allocation, which will oversee the review, said three school bands were likely to stay because the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) had found parents to be happier with this year's allocation results compared with three years ago.
'The satisfaction level has risen because many secondary schools have improved significantly with the implementation of reform policies, and higher education opportunities have been increased. Parents' choices are no longer confined to a small batch of schools,' he said.
However, some members of the government's secondary school places allocation committee claim the three-band system has created a mismatch because students incapable of learning in English have been sent to English-medium schools. Committee member Stephen Hui Chin-yim said a proposal would be made to the government to revert to five-bands.