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Anjali Hazari
Anjali Hazari is a retired international-school biology educator who has taught for three decades in Hong Kong. She continues to tutor and write extensively on education policy and practice.
Ethnic minority teachers at Hong Kong’s ESF and other international schools allege they are discriminated against in terms of promotion, unreasonable timetables, microaggressions in the staff room and many other forms.
Several parents have spoken out alleging racism at Hong Kong’s ESF schools following the publication of an open letter last month by a student at King George V School accusing teachers of various acts of discrimination.
Hong Kong’s recently implemented national anthem law and proposed national security law will heavily affect students, but we need to keep providing opportunities for them to develop thought and the right to express it.
Amid a global wave of protests, there is a need for schools, parents and policymakers to work out how best to incorporate non-violence and peaceful communication into classes on civic literacy.
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What is clear is that the source material presented to students taking the exam pointed in one direction, rather than being multifaceted.
Relatively few children and preteens have died from Covid-19, and history shows this age group seems to less at risk from infectious viruses. Scientists are looking at how evolution and hormones play a part.
‘Norm-referencing’, a system likely to be used in the event of a sudden surge of Covid-19 cases cancelling Hong Kong exams, could dampen top performers’ achievements and also negatively affect students at new schools.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of school exams worldwide. Students and parents worry about how this will affect preparations for university. Will 2020 results carry less weight because there were no exams?
Moving lessons online allows Hong Kong teen to make remarkable progress in science and maths. Teaching online lets such students hide their learning disabilities from classmates, an educator explains.
Know your jargon, have quotes and examples at the ready, and answer practice papers over and over when you revise, teachers say. Above all, they say, students must make sure they understand what’s being asked and how to respond.
Whatever side of the Hong Kong anti-government protests we support, our opinions and actions will affect our children. We should enable them to voice their opinions and campaign for what they believe in, but we shouldn’t condone violence.
With Hong Kong teachers and students forced to work at home with schools closed amid virus outbreak, international schools have adopted a range of online tools to provide lessons and touch base with students.
According to a Times Education Supplement survey of 1,200 educators, two characters from the Harry Potter series grabbed prominent places in education's 50 favourite fictional teachers.
We are taught from an early age that boasting is not considered a desirable trait. But research shows people feel pleasure talking about themselves. So I have a message to the well-prepared student who leaves the exam hall and says, self-deprecatingly: "I got lucky." There is no harm in saying sincerely, "I think my hard work paid off. I believe I did well."
Education depends on effective communication, and inadequacies in communication are unfortunately not comical, for all that they may make books such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland compelling reading.
