Dear Editor,
Owing to the declining birth rate of Hong Kong, school enrollment also drops. To eliminate the acute shortage of students entering secondary schools, the government of Hong Kong is going to implement either ‘small-class teaching’ or ‘class reduction’. So here am I writing to bring to the public attention which has stirred up so much controversy recently. From a teacher’s perspective, I will patently support the idea of implementing ‘small-class teaching’ as it is beneficial to both the teachers and students.
First and foremost, implementing ‘small-class teaching’ can enhance learning efficiency. As the size of class in schools has shrink, each students can gain more attention from their teachers. As a result, different problems arose from different students can be addressed and individual needs can be satisfied easily. Notwithstanding being critized for lacking training and experience in ‘small-class teaching’, I truly believe that we, as teachers, can provide a better-quality teaching after the implementation of such a policy catering learning diversity. Admittedly,
‘small-class teaching’ is not a panacea. However, learning efficiency can be elevated by adopting ‘small-class teaching’ undeniably.
In addition, implementing ‘small-class teaching’ can also spare the under-enrolled schools from the axe. Although some schools are facing the shortage of students, it does not mean that they are valueless to stay. Irrespective of the sliding enrolment rate, there is a soaring demand for school places for immigrants from the Mainland China. Hence, what the government should do is to reduce the class size temporarily instead of being so inflexible to cut the number of class or even kill the schools once and for all.
Besides protecting the low-banding schools from being killed, implementing ‘small-class teaching’ can protect the job security of teachers concurrently. As there is no shrinking in the number of classes, no teachers will be made redundant. Regardless of the criticism saying that teachers should not enjoy any privileges , somehow I think these so-called privileges are just the basic right of teachers, or any employees, not being laid off just because the government wants to trim spending on education.
Despite the myriad advantages of implementing ‘small-class teaching’, the government of Hong Kong seems to be reluctant to playball. It said ‘small-class teaching’ only suits primary level education but not the secondary one, and we should resort to the alternative: to reduce the number of classes in secondary schools. Nevertheless, it appears that the government is just finding excuses, and the fact is: it wants to relieve its education budget as if the number of classes in secondary schools is reduced, the subsidies it needs to provide to them will be less. The government response towards this issue reveals its short-sightedness in education policy and unwillingness to invest to nurture our pillars of tomorrow. Implementing ‘small-class teaching’ can improve the quality of teaching and the highly-educated students can help to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness and its international status. Granted, none of us has a crystal ball to tell if the students educated under ‘small-class teaching’ policy can give Hong Kong a promising future, it is definitely not an excuse for the government to refuse implementing such a worth-trying policy.
A far-sighted government should not evade any problems concerning education and should not treat education merely as a budgetary item on the balance sheet as education is the bedrock of society. I think the government of Hong Kong should grab this golden chance, the falling in school enrolment, to improve the quality of education by implementing ‘small-class teaching’. Only by implementing this policy, our next generation can continue to enjoy a high level of education and the knowledge-based economy of Hong Kong can have a sustainable growth and development.
Yours faithfully,
Cherrie Kan
Cherrie Kan