- Concerns raised after three images on Instagram showed nearly 50 candidates and some teachers standing on stage of China Holiness Church Living Spirit College’s exam hall after sitting paper
- Examination authority says it will contact school to learn more about incident, but school hall was no longer examination venue once assessment ended
Students and teachers at the China Holiness Church Living Spirit College celebrate finishing the city’s last liberal studies paper. Photo: Handout Hong Kong’s examination authority has warned candidates against taking pictures at any stage of their assessments after photos on social media showed students and teachers celebrating the completion of the final liberal studies papers.
The warning by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority on Friday came a day after at least three photos were uploaded to Instagram showing nearly 50 youngsters and some teachers on the stage of the China Holiness Church Living Spirit College’s exam hall.
Students are not allowed to take photos in assessment halls during or after a test under the city’s exam rules. Anyone caught in breach of the direction could have marks deducted from their papers.
The images from Thursday showed the candidates holding up that day’s liberal studies exam papers. It remained uncertain whether the teachers had invigilated the test.
One picture also featured candidates and teachers throwing the Diploma of Secondary Education papers up in the air and bidding farewell to the soon-to-be-scrapped 13-year core subject, with a caption saying: “Goodbye love-hate liberal studies”.
An authority spokeswoman on Friday said it would contact the school involved to get a better understanding of the situation and follow up.
But she added the school hall was no longer considered an examination venue once the assessment was finished and the centre supervisor had officially dismissed the candidates.
“The centre school may use the hall for teaching or other school activities,” she said. “However, we advise schools to avoid filming any examination-related information or notices in the hall outside examination time to avoid any misunderstanding.”
The Post has contacted the school for comment.
The authority’s instructions rule that anyone caught displaying photographs, videos or records electronically or publicly “will receive a subject downgrading”.
More than 44,000 students took the final liberal studies paper, part of the city’s university entrance exams, on Thursday.
The images on social media went viral on some discussion forums and some users said the teachers and students had been “silly” by taking the pictures. Others threatened to lodge complaints to examination authorities over the incident.
“Report them. It is better to have less competition,” one user wrote.
Liberal studies, introduced in 2009, was designed to improve senior secondary students’ social awareness and critical thinking skills.
The Education Bureau overhauled the course in 2021 after the city’s Beijing loyalist political camp blamed the subject for radicalising young people during the 2019 anti-government protests.
A replacement subject – citizenship and social development – was introduced in September 2021 and has a syllabus focused on national security, identity, lawfulness and patriotism, with only two grades – “attained” and “not attained”.
The examination authorities earlier said no make-up exam would be arranged for liberal studies next year.