Medium of Instruction

It is recognised world-wide that students learn better in their mother tongue. Since the 1980s, the Government has been promoting mother-tongue teaching. Chinese is the medium of instruction in the vast majority of primary schools. From the 1998-99 school year onwards, Chinese has been adopted as the medium of instruction (MOI) (except for the subject of English Language) for junior secondary classes, starting with the Secondary 1 intake in the 1998-99 school year and progressing each year to a higher level of secondary education. However, 112 secondary schools that satisfied the requirements in terms of student ability, teacher capability and language learning-support strategies and programmes were allowed to teach in English.

Since the Government's policy is to enable students to be biliterate (to master written Chinese and English) and trilingual (to speak fluent Cantonese, Putonghua and English), heavy emphasis continues to be given to the teaching of English in all schools. English is taught as a core subject from Primary 1. Secondary schools teaching in Chinese are provided with additional support in the teaching and learning of English, including an average of two additional English Language teachers for each school, the choice of an additional native-speaking English teacher and additional recurrent grants for equipment and library books.

In September 2000, the Government accepted the recommendation of the Working Group on MOI, comprising members of the Board of Education and the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research, to continue with the MOI policy implemented in the 1998-99 school year up to the 2003-04 school year, pending a review on the Secondary School Places Allocation system to be conducted by the Education Commission. In the meantime, schools adopting Chinese as MOI for junior secondary classes may opt to use English as the MOI for certain subjects in some classes in Secondary 4 and 5, provided that the subject teachers have the requisite capability, the students are sufficiently proficient in English and sound school-based support strategies and programmes are available.