Lawmaker slams gov’t inaction in enhancing Putonghua education

Lawmaker Ho Ion Sang recently suggested that local schools’ Putonghua [Mandarin Chinese] education is seriously lagging behind Macau’s social development needs.
In his latest written inquiry, Ho criticized the government for not properly carrying out its ten-year plan on non-tertiary education that was set out for this decade; several measures stipulated in the plan have been delayed in implementation or are likely to see delays.
Amongst those inadequacies, the lawmaker indicated that Putonghua standards to be established for teachers teaching Chinese language are still absent without a trace, yet they should’ve already materialized last year, as scheduled in the ten-year plan. The implementation of examining teachers’ Putonghua levels is thus at a standstill.
Moreover, Ho added that the authority’s work progress on enacting or amending several non-tertiary laws and regulations is behind schedule, such as the amendment to the Special Education System – a task that was supposed to be completed last year but only entered the public consultation stage this March.
As evidence, the legislator cited the government’s previous Policy Addresses indicating that, “according to the Plan, the government needs to complete many law amendments, including school general rules, Vocational and Technical Education Regulation, school supervision system, as well as student assessment.”
“However, except the Private School General Rules that finished public consultation last April, [amendments to] the other regulations and systems haven’t shown substantial progress,” he said, stressing that “the education sector worries that if those amendments [continue to suffer] repeated delays, the development of Macau’s non-tertiary education will be further affected.” BY