While Hong Kong people are focused on the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock "through train" they seem to be unaware that the English language proficiency of our citizens has dropped significantly. We must do something. Complacency is Hong Kong's worst enemy.

A recent poll conducted by Education First, an international language learning company, shows that English proficiency in Hong Kong falls behind Taiwan, Japan, Shanghai and Indonesia.

The findings, released in mid-November, emerged in a poll of 750,000 adults in 63 countries and territories worldwide where English is not the native language. Hong Kong is ranked 31st, a sharp drop of 19 places since 2011 (the last poll), when it was ranked 12th.

This isn't a decline. It is a significant drop. Hong Kong people should therefore be seriously concerned.

An Education First executive has tried to downplay the seriousness of the situation. He said the poll results were only an "indication" and did not comprehensively represent the proficiency level of a country or territory. Nevertheless, the fall in rankings sounds alarm bells to all who cherish Hong Kong's role as a major world financial center.

Of the 13 countries and regions polled in Asia, Hong Kong ranks eighth. It scored 52.5 points, behind Malaysia (59.73), Singapore (59.58), South Korea (53.62), India (53.54), Japan (52.88), Indonesia (52.74) and Taiwan (52.56). The alarm bells sound even louder when the survey uncovers the fact that English proficiency levels in Shanghai (53.75), Beijing (52.86) and Tianjin (52.73) are also higher than Hong Kong.

Denmark, Holland and Sweden are the top three places for English proficiency among the world's non-English speaking countries.

The Education First report noted that the gap between the mainland and Hong Kong's scores had narrowed from 6.82 to 2.35 points since the last survey in 2011. As an international city, it is surprising that Hong Kong's English Proficiency Index score has slipped so much.

Indonesia, Vietnam (51.57) and Thailand (47.79) have shown the fastest gains in English proficiency since these countries have invested heavily in reforming their language education system to strengthen English learning, notes the Education First report.

The reason for Hong Kong's decline in English proficiency is commonly known - but nothing has been done about it. One of the reasons cited for the decline of English proficiency is that Chinese has been used as the teaching medium since shortly after the handover in 1997. We all agree Hong Kong is a Chinese city, an inalienable part of China, but its role as an international financial center should not be undermined. High levels of proficiency in English will help Hong Kong and the mainland to develop and thrive.

Government officials and lawmakers should change our education system to adopt English as the medium of education. Hong Kong wants to survive on its own strength and doesn't want to become a burden to the mainland. If our jobless rate surges, the negative impact will be felt across the Shenzhen River. We do not want to survive solely on Beijing's generous and special policies.

Apart from pleading with government officials and lawmakers to return the teaching medium to English, I hope local tycoons will refrain from donating millions of dollars to American and British universities. Instead, perhaps the money should go to local universities to provide incentives for young Hong Kong Chinese to improve their English speaking and writing skills. The money would be well spent. Hong Kong's citizens would undoubtedly be most grateful to these tycoons.

There is no time for procrastination. People with a vision must act now to change our education system and help Hong Kong thrive.

The author is a veteran journalist and senior lecturer at Beacon College, a tutorial school.

(HK Edition 11/24/2014 page7)