BCA Committee Yet To Agree On Future For Tests

Members of a committee reviewing school assessments that many parents and teachers want to see dropped say they have not yet reached a consensus on whether primary three pupils should continue to sit the tests.

The government has said it is waiting for a report from the committee in the coming weeks before making a decision on the future of the Basic Competency Assessments (BCA), a revamped version of the unpopular Territory-wide System Assessments.

There are concerns that many schools drill students for the tests in Chinese, English and maths, and that children, parents and teachers are all put under too much pressure.

Twenty-nine legislators, including five from the pro-establishment camp, signed a petition last week calling for the tests to be suspended this year, as they were in 2016.

After a meeting of the committee, member and school principal Sin Kim-wai said while ideas have been proposed to revamp the assessments, such as only involving a sample of schools selected at random, members haven't agreed at this point on a clear way forward.

"We have to discuss at the next meeting if we have any proposal to the Education Bureau", Sin said.

Education Secretary Kevin Yeung has said the government will decide next month whether the controversial assessments will be scrapped, or if not, how they can be improved.

In a statement released after Wednesday's meeting, the Education Bureau said it noted that the committee has acknowledged the function and importance of the BCA tests when it comes to teaching and providing feedback to schools.