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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (January 23):
Question:
The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) announced in October last year that $200 million would be allocated from the Language Fund to implement a four-year scheme to assist primary and secondary schools in using Putonghua to teach the Chinese Language subject. The scheme is now open to applications, and the annual numbers of primary and secondary schools that can join the scheme are limited to 30 and 10 respectively. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether they know:
(a) how the authorities help those schools which have not reached the standard required for using Putonghua to teach the Chinese Language subject to raise their competence in this respect;
(b) the current number of primary and secondary school teachers in the territory whose Putonghua proficiency is already up to the standard required for participating in the aforesaid scheme; whether the authorities will provide additional resources for teachers to learn Putonghua; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) the reasons why, before launching the aforesaid scheme, SCOLAR had spent three years to carry out studies to keep track of the effectiveness of using Putonghua to teach the Chinese Language subject in 20 primary and secondary schools, and yet it had not consulted the education sector extensively on this scheme?
Reply:
President,
In 2000, the Curriculum Development Council (CDC) stated in its Chinese Language curriculum document that the use of Putonghua to teach the Chinese Language subject (CLS) is a long-term goal. CDC also recommended, in the interim, a school-based approach for those schools that are ready to use Putonghua to teach CLS. In 2004, the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) launched a three-year longitudinal study to examine the factors conducive to using Putonghua to teach CLS in primary and secondary schools. In September 2005, SCOLAR and the Primary Chinese Language Education Research Association jointly conducted a territory-wide survey to find out the extent to which schools were using Putonghua to teach CLS. In January 2006, the Legislative Council Finance Committee approved to inject $200 million into the Language Fund to support interested primary and secondary schools to try out using Putonghua to teach CLS. Taking into account the findings of the 2005 study as well as the preliminary findings of the longitudinal study, and after consulting the education sector, SCOLAR finalised in October 2007 the details of the scheme to support schools to use Putonghua to teach CLS. My replies to the questions raised are as follows:
(a) The aim of the support scheme is to assist schools which are interested in using Putonghua to teach CLS in launching or further implementing the use of Putonghua in teaching CLS. SCOLAR has not set any required standard for using Putonghua to teach CLS for the purpose of the scheme. Interested schools are only required to plan for a minimum increase of five classes using Putonghua to teach CLS (across three forms) in the coming three years, as well as to continue to use Putonghua to teach CLS upon completion of the scheme. However, SCOLAR considers that teachers using Putonghua to teach CLS must satisfy the Language Proficiency Requirement for Putonghua teachers in Speaking, or attain Grade B, Level 2 or above in the Test of Proficiency in Putonghua conducted by the State Language Work Committee.
In addition to SCOLAR's support scheme, the Language Learning Support Section of the Education Bureau also provides support to schools in the teaching of CLS, including on-site visits by professionals from the Mainland to assist schools in planning and implementing their school-based programme of using Putonghua to teach CLS.
(b) As at December 1 2007, 6,958 teachers have satisfied the Language Proficiency Requirement for Putonghua teachers in Speaking. It should however be noted that these teachers are not necessarily Chinese Language teachers. We do not have the number of teachers who have attained Grade B, Level 2 or above in the Test of Proficiency in Putonghua conducted by the State Language Work Committee. In order to enhance the Putonghua proficiency of Chinese Language teachers, SCOLAR has sponsored serving Chinese Language teachers to take part in a four-week Putonghua summer immersion programme in the Mainland since 2004. The programme seeks to improve the Putonghua listening and speaking ability of the participants. As at the end of 2006, more than 1 100 teachers had been sponsored and the subsidies amounted to about $7.1 million. SCOLAR will review the effectiveness of the Putonghua immersion programme and may allocate additional resources to sponsor more teachers to take part in the programme.
(c) SCOLAR has extensively consulted the education sector before launching the support scheme. A preliminary consultation with principals of 11 primary and secondary schools was conducted in September 2007. Among the schools consulted, some have fully implemented the using of Putonghua to teach CLS, whereas the others have just started to implement or have not implemented at all. Full consultation was carried out in October 2007. Representatives of 23 school councils/associations and school sponsoring bodies attended two consultation sessions held by SCOLAR.
Ends/Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 14:59
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