Simplified characters rumour wrong
In response to the letter (“Why simplified Chinese should not be a subject”, February 18) by Tse Ka-wing, we wish to make the following clarifications.
First of all, it is not true that the learning of simplified Chinese characters is to be introduced as a subject.
Recently, there has been a public misunderstanding or rumour that the Education Bureau is trying to require primary and secondary school students to learn simplified Chinese characters in regular classes, over the recent consultation on updating the Chinese language education curriculum guide, which was issued in 2002.
The issue on simplified Chinese characters is not an item for the consultation. Since 2002, it has been suggested in the curriculum guide as one of the curriculum development concepts that the ability to recognise, not to write, simplified Chinese characters could be developed in terms of extensive reading activities, only after the students have developed a solid foundation in reading and writing traditional Chinese characters, say in secondary level but not primary level.
This decade-old concept, which is not compulsory, has been well applied to widen students’ reading horizons and enable them to communicate with people from different places, such as the mainland and Singapore.
There is no question about the importance of traditional Chinese characters in Hong Kong.
