Politics rears head in HKDSE exam
Liberal studies paper challenges pupils' views on city's democracy battle and filibuster tactics
Candidates faced a political challenge in the latest liberal studies exams, when they were asked to give their views on the impact of filibuster campaigns in the Legislative Council and the reasons for Hongkongers to fight for democracy in China.
Some 70,000 secondary six students headed to venues across the city yesterday to sit the exam, held for the second time since education reforms came into full effect last year.
Liberal studies became a compulsory subject, along with Chinese, English and mathematics, as part of the new Hong Kong Diploma for Secondary Education university entrance exam. It followed the shortening of secondary education from seven years to six.
"I will not choose a question based on an issue [and whether it is politics-related]," one pupil Philip Ma Chuk-ming said outside a Tin Hau exam venue.
Another candidate waiting outside Belilios Public School planned to avoid politics-related questions: "I don't know much about modern China," she said.
In one question in the three-hour exam, candidates were asked to comment on whether filibuster campaigns launched by pan-democrat legislators would harm to society.
