Postpone the DSE exam, education unionists urge

Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers has urged the government to immediately suspend face-to-face classes for secondary form six students and postpone the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education exams.

Considering the surging number of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong, the Education Bureau should immediately suspend in-person classes for form six students, who are now given the discretion attending classes in campuses as they have to take the DSE.

It urged the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority to postpone the date of DSE, which is scheduled to start in the end of April.

At the same time, the union suggested canceling the Internal Assessments for Secondary School Places Allocation for primary six students to reduce the pressure on parents, schools and students.

In addition, the union urged primary schools to cancel all the exams on campus in March and April and that schools should follow the government's advice to arrange for staff to work from home until further notice.

A secondary six student said he does not want the examination to be postponed, even if in-person classes are to be suspended.

“Honestly there isn't a lot of teaching going on even when we go to school. It’s just for revision on our own and we can ask teachers questions easily. We have finished learning materials on the syllabus already,” he said.

“If they postpone the exam, it will likely be an indefinite one because the outbreaks are unlikely to be contained soon. I don’t want that. I want the exams to end on schedule.”

Lawmaker Tang Fei, who is also a principal of a Tseung Kwan O secondary school, agreed that in-person classes for secondary six students should be called to a halt.

“If a student is infected with the coronavirus, he will not only affect himself and his classmates, but also the candidates who use the campus during DSE examination,” Tang said.

He added that secondary six students should already have finished their syllabus by now and are only going back to campus for mock exams, which can be switched online.

“Those students are well aware of the mock exam’s purpose, so we do not need to worry about cheating,” Tang said.

However, he thinks it is “too early and inappropriate” to announce the postponement of the DSE, while the government should review whether the examination should be held as planned near the end of this month after considering experts’ and doctors’ opinion.

Tang explained that the number of infections may dwindle if the government enforces stricter social distancing measures shortly. Announcing the final decision near the end of the month will not affect candidates too much, he said.