Hong Kong educators, schools and parents say their childrenâs efforts to make the grade have been hampered by the repeated suspension of face-to-face classes. Kathy Zhang reports from Hong Kong.
In this undated photo, a school teacher conducts online teaching in an emptied classroom in Hong Kong. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)
âI am not qualified and in no mood to teach my son English,â groans Xiong Ju â a single mother who has become increasingly worried about her sonâs academic performance.
Her 7-year-old son, Ho Chun-to, whoâs still in primary school, scored an unflattering zero out of 100 in an English-language test in September, after the new school year began.
Since early this year, when COVID-19 first reared its head, the total time Ho had spent in school was no more than six weeks. As classes continued to remain suspended, he and his peers had no choice but to take to online learning.
Since early this year, when COVID-19 first reared its head, the total time Ho had spent in school was no more than six weeks
For Xiong, a self-employed interior decoration worker, itâs like rubbing salt in the wound. Her only solution was to dig into her earnings and send her son to a tutorial center to help him catch up.
Poor grades, unsatisfying results from a year of studying at home, and mounting disparities in studentsâ academic performance have made Hong Kong parents and schools apprehensive. But thereâs no way out, with on-campus classes off the table in the pandemic-gripped city.
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With problems piling up amid the worldwide experiment with remote learning, educators agree that online studies can never replace face-to-face classes.
Hong Kong students, like many of their peers worldwide, have gone through months of school suspensions since January.
âSuspending, resuming and then suspending classes over and over again. Itâs like an endless loop,â laments Xiong.
On the same page is a 45-year-old housewife surnamed Hu, who complained that her 6-year-old son has been trailing his fellow students badly in Chinese-language classes after entering primary school in September.
âHis homework shows his handwriting isnât good,â said Hu.
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Teachers normally teach year-three kindergarten pupils the basic rules in writing Chinese characters and practice with simple characters in classes, Hu said. âBut my son hadnât learned anything in the first half of this year,â she said.
Sheâs mulling whether to allow her son to repeat his first year, fearing heâll lose confidence in his ability to catch up academically
Sheâs mulling whether to allow her son to repeat his first year, fearing heâll lose confidence in his ability to catch up academically.
Choy Sai-hung, principal of CCC Heep Woh Primary School (Cheung Sha Wan), agreed that online learning has only âhalf the effectâ of face-to-face classes. He drew the conclusion from studentsâ performance in the schoolâs mid-year examination.
âThe results just arenât ideal,â said Choy, whose school held the examination in June after an almost five-month suspension of classes. The studentsâ grades in various subjects have dropped by an average of five to 10 marks compared with last year, Choy said.
Ng Pik-kin, who teaches history at Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O), echoed Choyâs concerns.
Ng, whose classes include fifth-year secondary and next yearâs university entrance-examination students, believes that the overall performance of students in the 2021 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examinations will not be as satisfactory as in previous years. âThose taking next yearâs DSE examinations didnât have on-campus classes for almost the whole year.â
Ng and Choy believe that the academic performance gap between students from different family backgrounds will widen further if the pandemic continues to force classes to be halted.
âSome better-off families can help their children, like hiring tutors for one-on-one classes at home, while some with higher educational qualifications can teach their kids themselves. But others may have very limited options,â Choy said.
Nevertheless, schools and teachers will provide assistance to students as much as possible, and parents should work with schools closely, he said.
The pandemic has dealt a severe blow not only to Hong Kong students â it has become a global issue.
According to a research report by McKinsey & Co in early December, students in the United States have generally suffered a loss in learning this year, especially in mathematics. Students of color were about three to five months behind in mathematics, while white students were about one to three months behind.
Students lack self-discipline
Hong Kongâs Education Bureau said earlier this year it hoped that schools could âsuspend classes without suspending learningâ. Given that, schools arranged for teachers to have live-streamed classes via certain online learning applications, such as Zoom or Google Classroom, for students on school days.
Schools arranged for teachers to have live-streamed classes via certain online learning applications, such as Zoom or Google Classroom, for students on school days
âRemote teaching and learning represent a severe test for studentsâ self-discipline,â Choy said. Most underage students are unable to learn lessons and finish their homework only by exercising self-control, without the monitoring and guidance of teachers and parents, he said.
âIn distancing classes, teachers can see studentsâ faces in webcams, but studentsâ engagement with classes is lower and itâs difficult to get studentsâ in-time feedback when teachers ask questions facing a screen,â Choy said, adding that this is one of the reasons why e-learning will never completely replace face-to-face classes.
Also, when teachers are in front of a computer, they donât know how many students are grasping the knowledge in such a short time, he argued.
Homework is another major headache. The most effective way is to ask students to make copies of their hand-written homework and send it back to teachers. âBut we also need to control the time primary students spend on electronic products every day as it takes more time to see teachersâ feedback on the screen,â Ng said.
Many teachers are also not in favor of students typing their work although secondary school students are capable of handling it.
According to Ng, students may copy answers from the internet. âYou donât know where they get their answers from,â said Ng, adding that it would be a massive waste of time for both students and teachers if students just copy their answers without thinking.
The pandemic and the continued suspension of classes in schools have posed an unprecedented challenge for schools and teachers.
To increase studentsâ engagement in online classes, schools are racking their brains to optimize teaching strategies in remote classes. Some require teachers to spend more time in question-and-answer sessions to ensure students can keep up the same pace of learning, while others require students to turn on their webcams in livestreamed classes or wear uniforms.
Parents play a vital role
Ngâs school also requires parents to hand in studentsâ written homework to teachers in person each fortnight, and for teachers to make correction marks and comments on studentsâ homework. Thus, parents have to play a bigger part in their childrenâs distance learning, which means theyâre under greater stress.
Xiong sent her son to a tutoring center in the neighborhood every afternoon after the schoolâs livestreamed classes
Xiong is among the parents affected. Since late January when the Education Bureau decided to halt classes as COVID-19 hit, she had to stop working for nearly a year and help her son with online classes at home every day.
She felt trapped at home with a lot of anxiety. âOnly two of us are at home every day, staring at each other,â she said.
Xiong sent her son to a tutoring center in the neighborhood every afternoon after the schoolâs livestreamed classes. Her son can also take English lessons and do his homework there. In the meantime, she can shop for home necessities or hang out with friends, who are also mothers facing a âsimilar bitter destinyâ.
Besides working more closely with parents and constantly optimizing teaching strategy to minimize the loss for students, schools seem to have no other option. âOnly when the pandemic ends can the problem be thoroughly solved,â Choy said.
From a positive point of view, Choy thinks that distance learning and working from home will make schools operate more electronically.
Hopefully, the ânew normalâ can help Hong Kongâs primary and secondary schools expand e-learning resources and set up a well-established electronic system connecting schools, students and parents.
Even if face-to-face classes were to resume after the pandemic, these online resources can continue to be used to facilitate studentsâ self-learning and communication between schools and parents, Ng said.
Contact the writer at kathyzhang@chinadailyhk.com