Ex-exams Body Chief Warns Against Pulling Question

A former head of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) has warned of the consequences to pupils if the exams body follows an order by the Education Bureau and pulls a history exam question that the government considers biased.

The authority has been asked to scrap an open-ended question in its latest Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam paper, which asked senior secondary students whether Japan had done more good than harm to China between 1900 and 1945.

The Education Secretary Kevin Yeung has said the question is one-sided, and the way it was drafted – as well as Japan's invasion of China – simply leaves no room for discussion.

The bureau had quickly issued a statement criticising the question, just hours after thousands of pupils took the exam on Thursday. It plans to send staff to the HKEAA on Monday “to investigate the question setting, vetting, and approval mechanism under the DSE, and whether the mechanism has been strictly complied with during the preparation of the examination paper of the history examination.”

But Choi Chee-cheong, a former secretary general of the HKEAA, said scrapping a question in a public examination is a very serious matter, and that should be done based on "scientific considerations".

In an article published on an online news outlet on Sunday, Choi urged the exams authority to think twice before making the move and make the interests of pupils its priority.

He warned that the consequences would be dire if the authorities "deviate from the right track and abandon their professionalism".

Choi also said students sitting the DSE have already been facing unprecedented challenges this year due to the social unrest and Covid-19 outbreak. He said they have had no classes for months, and many of them felt unease taking the exams. He hopes they could complete the DSE under a "calm" environment.