Hong Kong educators slam low-performing applied Chinese courses
Classes criticised as poorly prepared attract just 150 ethnic minority pupils out of eligible 1,200
Two new Chinese-language instruction courses, designed mainly to give the city's ethnic minorities an alternative route to university qualification, have backfired as only 12.5 per cent of eligible pupils signed up for the programmes.
Just 150 pupils from 15 schools, out of the approximately 1,200 eligible, had enrolled in the two new Chinese courses offered as part of the government's applied learning programme for senior secondary school pupils, the has learned.
The two courses that started in February - Chinese used in service industries and Chinese used in hospitality professions - met with scepticism from education professionals when they were announced in December.
The educators said the local community had been asking for a curriculum in Chinese as a second language for more than a decade, but the government's fragmented solutions, including the applied learning courses, had not been sufficient.
"Applied Chinese courses are only piecemeal support to students. The fact that the government is adamant on not creating a long-term learning strategy and curriculum for Chinese as a second language is a thinking beyond me," said a secondary school principal, whose school chose to enrol some pupils in the new courses. "It falls short of dealing with the root problem."
The principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to affect pupils, said the school decided to take the extra option and "hopes for the best", despite initial scepticism.
