HONG KONG: The competition will be intense for secondary school placements this year, with some schools reporting nine and 10 times more applicants than available placements, according to figures at the close of the latest round of the Secondary School Places Allocation System yesterday.

The heavy volume of applicants at some schools derives in part from a shift in education policy this year. Some schools have been given clearance to change their medium of instruction - the language of teaching - to English. Some schools may opt for a partial shift.

Tseung Kwan O King Ling College, previously a Chinese school which will shift from Chinese to English as the medium of instruction, received more than 400 admission applications. The vice principal of the school, Pang Kwan-wah found the results gratifying.

"The application this year is a 10 percent increase compared with that of last year," said Pang. The school has 54 discretionary places; thus eight to nine students are fighting for a place.

The determination as to which schools are qualified to make the medium-of-instruction change depends on academic standing: 85 percent of students in a class must rank in the top 40 percent of their age group, scholastically. Based on the Education Bureau's school profile this year, about 18 Chinese schools would shift partly or fully their medium of instruction to English under the new policy. Schools that qualify and plan to amend the medium of instruction report increased applicants.

Pang agreed that the shifting of the medium of instruction from Chinese to English is an important reason for the increase in applications.

Pang said not only will the new Form 1 students benefit from the shift to English, but also the entire school.

"New Form 1 students will be taught in English during lessons," Pang said. "Besides, the school is also using English to communicate during different activities like daily and weekly seminars, interest club activities, etc. The English standard of the students of the whole school can thus be enhanced."

The school will interview applicants in March and April. These face-to-face interviews will not focus just on scholastic performance. Applicants will have to turn on the charm and be on their best behavior. Personality and social skills will be part of the evaluation.

"On top of their academic results, we would like to know how active the students are and what their study habits are. We also want to know how they communicate with their friends and family," Pang said.

Students should choose secondary schools according to their abilities, said Karen Leung, vice principal of Tseung Kwan O Government Secondary School.

"We will teach in English in most subjects like Mathematics, Integrated Science, History and Geography (in academic year 2010-11). For other subjects that are more technical, such as physics, technology, visual arts and design, we'll still teach in Chinese which helps students to adapt to the new teaching environment," said Leung.

"There are more Chinese primary schools than English schools in Tseung Kwan O," Leung noted. "If applying for an English secondary school, parents should evaluate the English level of their children. A student has to achieve a certain standard of English to be able to keep up in class."

Cecilia So, whose son is heading to secondary one in the next academic year, said, "The most important thing is that he can study happily at school without pressure. The medium of instruction is important but then it depends on the culture of the school and the peer group to help him to grow healthy and happily."

The medium of instruction policy, which allows only about 100 secondary schools to use English as the instruction medium, has attracted widespread criticism over the years. The policy was implemented after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. One of the criticisms is that the standard of English among students has sharply declined because today's students have far less exposure to the language.

(HK Edition 01/26/2010 page1)