Some Students Give A Thumbs Up To New TSA

The revamped Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) got underway on Tuesday with some students saying it was easier than normal school tests.

At the Tsuen Wan Trade Association Primary School, where primary three students took the written Chinese TSA, one student told RTHK that it was easier than usual classroom tests.

He said he would do his best, even though the assessment does not carry grades, because he believes this can help him get a good job in the future.

Another student said there were more questions compared to normal exam papers and she only managed to finish the TSA paper five minutes before time was up. She also said she would love to be told of her scores, so that she would know how she can improve.

After protests by parents and teachers about the excessive pressure the tests allegedly put on children, the Education Bureau had revamped the exam and announced earlier this year that only one in 10 pupils in each school would have to sit the exams in Chinese, English and maths.

But schools were also given the choice of making all their primary three students take the tests. About 230 schools have chosen to do this.

A Professional Teachers' Union survey found that teachers and children at schools that opted to test all primary three pupils have come under even more pressure than before.

Lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen told RTHK's Frances Sit that in schools where children were selected randomly, over 40 percent of surveyed teachers said they and their students were less stressed.