HONG Kong is looking at a major overhaul of the city's education system, whose over-reliance on Cantonese as the medium of instruction has led to falling English standards.

Education chief Michael Suen said this week that Hong Kong needs to produce students fluent in both English and Mandarin - the latter commonly referred to here as Putonghua - to boost its global competitiveness.

One way, he said, would be for teachers to use Cantonese, English and Mandarin equally as the medium of teaching in schools.

'One has to learn Chinese well to better integrate with the mainland, as well as English, so as to maintain Hong Kong's international status,' Mr Suen told the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily. His comments were published on Monday.

His goal is for Hong Kong to produce students who are competent in speaking English, Mandarin and Cantonese, and the two written languages of English and Chinese.

Mr Suen did not elaborate on the likely changes to the education system, but employers welcomed the proposal for schools to teach in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

'Employers will increasingly consider hiring people speaking fluent English and Putonghua as more employers will enter the China market,' Hong Kong Professionals and Executives Association president Nelson Siu was quoted as saying by The Standard newspaper yesterday.

In 2004, a survey by professional accountancy and business body CPA Australia noted that Hong Kong's education system needed fixing, while implying that its language standards were not up to the mark.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents then said that the city did not make its students internationally competitive, while 67 per cent said that the city did not prepare students well for work on the mainland.

As Mr Suen suggested, schools should be encouraged to use English and Mandarin outside the classroom, such as in extra-curricular activities.

Using English or Chinese subtitles in television shows would also help viewers to improve their language skills, he said.

Professor So Wing Cheung, who teaches bilingualism and sociolinguistics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, fully backed any effort to promote what he termed 'official' languages like English and Mandarin.

Exit interviews with graduating students of his institution have shown that the number of good English speakers is dwindling, he said.

'The standard of Putonghua is not bad in recent years, mainly because the students have more classmates from the mainland,' he told The Straits Times.

'But the number of outstanding English-speaking graduates is getting few and far between...This is not good as students at this level are not supposed to be taught fundamental language skills anymore.'

One key problem, lawmaker Tam Yiu Chung pointed out, is that both students and teachers do not have many opportunities to use anything other than Cantonese in everyday life.

Prof So agreed, adding that there is no quick remedy.

'For instance, most Hong Kong kids at the playground have no reason to speak English and by the time they understand the importance of it, they're already teenagers with other problems and school subjects to handle,' he said.

'Time and efforts must be invested to cultivate a society that speaks official languages,' the professor added.

The efforts, analysts suggested, include devoting more resources for specialised language teachers, and setting up smaller-sized classes from the primary school level.

At least one parent is hoping that significant changes to the city's education policy come sooner rather than later.

'I'm worried for my son's future as he cannot speak English or Mandarin well,' said Mr Anthony Yam, whose son is 10 years old.

'If the government does not improve the education system by the time he gets to secondary school, then there will be little chance for him to improve on other languages since we speak only Cantonese at home.'

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