Letter demands an end to TSA

A petition group issued an open letter in a local Chinese-language newspaper on Wednesday, calling on the Education Bureau to cancel the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) in primary schools. Claiming to be backed by 40,000 parents, teachers and people working with children, the petition group said schools often make children do an excessive amount of schoolwork because of the TSA. In response, the Education Bureau said that TSA is the only way to evaluate the students' performances in the three subjects of Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics by the end of grade 3 and grade 6. It helps the government and schools understand the achievement gap. And the practice of excessive schoolwork is not entirely due to the TSA.

Fine for breach of lift ordinance

Sunbase International Properties Management Ltd was fined HK$10,000 at the Kwun Tong Magistrates' Courts on Thursday for contravening the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance by allowing passengers to use a lift that did not have a valid use permit. Welcoming the verdict, a spokesman for the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said this is the first such conviction for contravening the ordinance since its enactment in December 2012. The court heard that the permit for the use of lift No 38 at Chak Mei House in Yau Tong expired on March 22 this year. However, Sunbase, which is responsible for managing the lift, did not stop the operation of the lift after this date.

Consultation on phone numbers

The Communications Authority (CA) launched a two-month public consultation on Thursday on re-allocating cell phone numbers, starting with 70, 73, 81 or 83, and even 4, deemed unlucky as it sounds like the Cantonese for "death". That comes as numbers in the current 8-digit plan set aside for allocation to mobile services may be used up as early as November 2018, a CA spokesman said. This along with other proposed measures will see a total of 15.72 million subscriber numbers become available for allocation. This will extend the life span of the existing eight-digit numbering plan by around 10 years to September 2028.

Speeding driver is charged

A young man from Chongqing who was arrested for speeding through Lok Ma Chau Control Point before racing toward Central in his Ford Mustang on Saturday was charged in absentia on Thursday. He was charged at Fanling Magistracy with illegal entry, driving without a valid driving license, driving an unlicensed vehicle and driving without third party insurance. The prosecution said that he was emotionally agitated when he was arrested and had been transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The presiding magistrate commented that there seemed to be something wrong with the defendant.

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/30/2015 page7)