Review crew: Education Commission chairman Dr Rosanna Wong and working group chairman Michael Tien launch the three-month consultation on the Review of Medium of Instruction for Secondary Schools & Secondary School Places Allocation.

Secretary for Education & Manpower Professor Arthur Li has backed the broad direction of the Education Commission's Review of Medium of Instruction for Secondary Schools & Secondary School Places Allocation Consultation.

Released today, the document advocates mother-tongue teaching as the mainstream medium of instruction for secondary schools and recommends a secondary schools places allocation system that refines the present arrangement through increasing parental choice and updating the instrument to scale the internal results of primary schools.

Professor Li said the system is an important interface between primary and secondary education while the medium of instruction can significantly affect students' learning confidence and effectiveness.

"I therefore welcome the commission's approach in putting students' interest as the prime guiding consideration," he said.

The medium of instruction document recommends the bifurcation of Chinese-medium and English-medium schools be maintained, with the introduction of a six-yearly review mechanism to assess whether there should be any change to the medium adopted by individual schools.

English-medium schools

In future, an English-medium school should meet the following criteria:

* on student ability, the top 40% of Secondary 1 students will be taken as having the ability to learn through English and at least 85% of a school's intake should come from this group;

* on teacher capability, they should obtain a grade C or above in English Language (Syllabus B) in the HKCEE or equivalent; serving teachers who have not attained such qualifications should obtain the relevant qualifications within two years starting from the 2005-06 school year, or opt for classroom observation by experts appointed by Education & Manpower Bureau; and,

* on support measures, the school-based principle is maintained and based on results of schools' self-evaluation and external school review mechanism, the bureau can assess whether adequate measures are in place.

The commission proposes Chinese-medium schools may choose to allocate, on top of English language lessons, no more than 15% of the total lesson time for extended learning activities conducted through English.

It also suggests the Government continue to provide additional resources for these schools, and consider giving them cash grants in lieu of additional teaching posts to enhance flexibility.

Discretionary places

The secondary schools places allocation system document recommends raising the discretionary places quota of a school from 20% to 30%, and parents' choice from one to two schools.

At the central allocation stage, the document proposes the present three-band system be maintained, with the introduction of 10% of places of every school be set aside for allocation unrestricted by school nets.

On scaling of primary schools' internal assessment results, the commission proposes two options for consideration:

* to continue with the current scaling mechanism, which adopts results of the academic aptitude test of many years ago; or,

* to use the existing pre-Secondary 1 Hong Kong Academic Test as a tool to scale the internal assessment results of the coming cohort of Primary 6 students.

The document recommends the new mechanism be in place by 2007. Existing Primary 4 students will be the first batch affected by the change.

Professor Li urged the public to express views on the proposals, so the administration can devise long-term arrangements for educating future generations widely acceptable to the community.