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Following is a question by the Hon Paul Tse and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Education, Mr Kenneth Chen, in the Legislative Council today (December 16):
Question:
In recent years, there is a proliferation in the market of advertisements of tutorial schools claiming that they can guarantee that students will obtain excellent results in public examinations; some tutorial schools have spent enormous amounts of money on placing full front-page advertisements in newspapers and displaying huge advertisements in various outdoor media to boast that they have the largest number of students with Grades A, B and C and that their students are assured of "obtaining Grade A or a higher grade", etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it had, in the past three years, taken the initiative to investigate if the advertisements of tutorial schools contained false, exaggerated or misrepresented statements; if it had, of the respective numbers of advertisements and tutorial schools involved; whether it had issued warnings to and instituted prosecutions against the tutorial schools in respect of the advertisements which contained misrepresented statements; if it had not conducted any investigation, of the reasons for that and whether it will follow up expeditiously;
(b) it has studied this unique phenomenon of Hong Kong that operating tutorial schools has become a trend and quite a number of tutors who call themselves "Tutor King" or "Tutor Queen" can become billionaires easily; if it has, of the results; if not, whether it will conduct such a study expeditiously; and
(c) it has looked into the causes of the prevalence of tutorial schools; and whether such a situation reflects the failure of the education policy in Hong Kong, as well as its impact on students and the entire school education system; if it has, of the results; if not, whether it will conduct such a study immediately?
Reply:
President,
(a) According to section 86B(1)(b) of the Education Ordinance, no owner or manager of a registered or provisionally registered school shall publish any advertisement that contains information which to his knowledge is false or misleading. When a school is suspected of breaching the Education Ordinance by false advertising, or if complaints or referrals are received, the Education Bureau (EDB) will investigate into the matter. If the case is substantiated, EDB will warn the persons concerned and request for rectification. If the contravention continues, prosecution action will be initiated. In the past three years, EDB has dealt with 16 cases of suspected false advertising by registered or provisionally registered tutorial schools. Detailed figures are shown in the Appendix.
(b) and (c) Although EDB has not conducted any study on the popularity of tutorial schools and its causes, there are various studies conducted by outside bodies which are very useful to us.
Tutoring outside school hours is not a unique phenomenon of Hong Kong. It is prevalent in East Asia and there is a growing trend in Western Europe, North America and Australia. Reasons for students to receive tutorial service provided by tutorial schools vary. Cultural factor is one reason, Chinese families usually attach much importance to academic results; some students wish to have better preparation before examinations or strive to excel; some parents cannot provide sufficient homework guidance; some are under peer influence, and some others even aim to make more friends through attending tutorial schools. We also should not overlook the fact that Hong Kong is a pluralistic city where demands for different services, including educational services, are diverse. In the light of the above, the impact of tutorial schools should not be generalised.
EDB's view is that students receive essential education at formal schools, where they have balanced developments in the domains of ethics, intellect, physical development, social skills and aesthetics. Outside school, students may also engage in other activities or pursue their interests. Tutorial schools mainly provide an option for academic subject teaching service outside formal schooling. Parents and students should cautiously consider whether it is necessary to enrol into tutorial schools, in the light of whole person development. EDB will continue to investigate into suspected cases of false advertising by schools in accordance with the Education Ordinance. We will also continue with our efforts on consumer education and provision of basic school registration information to help parents and students to make informed choices.
Ends/Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:20
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