【明報專訊】The PTU

The PTU argues that the government should conduct a comprehensive review of the TSA. PTU president Fung Wai-wah complains that TSA question papers are becoming more difficult year by year. For example, several years ago P3 students who took the English paper were asked to answer 8 to 10 questions after reading a 500-word essay. They are now given 20 questions instead, Fung says.

Schools

Some schools welcome the government's new arrangement. Principal of SKH Ching Shan Primary School Chan Chung-hong (聖公會靜山小學校長陳頌康) says the new arrangement may help relieve the pressure schools may come under. But he thinks schools may still choose to drill students in TSA preparations, arguing that a better approach is to hold P3 TSA tests every other year, which is the current arrangement for P6 TSA tests.

Parents

According to a survey conducted by the PTU and a parents' group, 95% of parents believe the TSA should be abolished so that their children will have more time to do out-of-class reading. One parent complains that the school his child attends began drilling him in practical writing (實用文) when he was in P2. The parent thinks that unnecessary.

However, some education experts believe the new arrangement will place parents in a dilemma. They say that, while parents want to reduce their children's study stress, it will be harder for parents to pick schools for their children when TSA data are no longer available.