The adoption of a pass or fail system, as proposed in the reform of the Liberal Studies subject under the senior secondary curriculum, will ease students’ pressure when preparing for examinations, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said today.

Speaking to reporters after attending a radio programme this morning, Mr Yeung said the proposed change follows the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum’s recommendation.

“I think our current proposal to reform the Liberal Studies subject under the senior secondary curriculum is generally in line with the recommendation of the task force, especially on the general direction such as reducing the workload of students in this subject, defining clearly the subject content and also the framework.

“The task force recommended that it will keep the level 1 to 5 grading with level 5* and level 5**, altogether seven grades. What we recommend now is whether the students achieve a standard or not, which everyone simply calls it a pass or fail.”

The education chief emphasised that the simplification of the grading system will enable students to develop analytical skills.

“For this particular subject, if they do not have the very strong pressure from the examination, it may further provide them with opportunities - when studying this subject - to further develop their analytical skills, and also the skills of assessing problems, problem-solving, and all these types of things which may be more important than the examination.”