Debate Continues Over Decision To Pull DSE Question

The government has come under renewed fire over its decision to pull a controversial exam question on Japan's invasion of China, although a pro-Beijing education group defended the government's action.

The question asked students sitting the Diploma of Secondary Education history exam if they thought Japan brought more good than harm to China between 1900 and 1945. It angered the foreign ministry and the Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said on Friday that the open-ended question was one-sided, leading and biased.

Yeung also said that it raised questions over the fairness of the Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA).

Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said on Saturday that the Education Bureau's decision is unfair to students taking the exam.

Speaking after a radio programme, Ip said there was nothing wrong with the question although the wording of the question may make some people feel uncomfortable.

He says the Bureau should have discussed the matter with the exam authority before making what he called a "rash" decision, and added that many students are now worried whether more exam questions will be scrapped in future.

"They might self censor in order to survive in the examination," Ip said.

The chair of the association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, Teddy Tang, said the wording of the question wasn't ideal, but was worried about the implications of the government's move.

He said he was concerned that that the education bureau is sending its own team of experts to the exams authority to look at the way it designs papers, instead of letting the exam authority handle the problem itself.

"Academic freedom and professional autonomy as well as professional mutual trust and respect are well established pillars of the Hong Kong education system. The action taken by the Education Bureau is unprecedented and there are concerns among the education community whether it will affect the professional autonomy, professional mutual trust in the future," he said.

However, Wong Kwan-yu from the pro-Beijing Federation of Education Workers said the question minimized the harm brought by Japan's invasion, adding that the question would spark a diplomatic incident if it appeared in Japanese public exams.

Speaking after the same radio programme, Wong said pulling the question isn't ideal, but is the lesser of two evils. He also said exam authorities have cancelled exams before, namely Chinese and English oral exams, because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

"It is the Education Bureau's judgement that it is better for them to withdraw the question for the good of Hong Kong society as a whole," Wong said.