Will allowing more Hong Kong schools to teach in English be too testing for pupils?

South China Morning Post · Feb 14, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Suri Chan Tin-wing, a first-year English major at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, found herself struggling to write her first creative short story – a 300-word assignment for the compulsory course “Introduction to Literature”.Throughout her secondary schooling at Yan Chai Hospital Law Chan Chor Si College in Kowloon Bay, only science subjects, such as maths and biology, were taught in English as the school adopted Chinese as the medium of instruction (CMI).Chan, 19, felt that she lacked the vocabulary needed to tell a compelling story and often compared herself with peers from schools with English as their medium of instruction (EMI).“I felt hesitant the moment I started writing,” she said. “I questioned whether my plot would be as well written or creative as those of students from EMI schools. I thought my writing was formulaic and lagged behind.”Chan said she was not alone, as her struggles were shared by many other students who graduated from CMI schools when they entered higher education.Suri Chan is a first-year student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo: HandoutThe education sector is now expecting that a review of the policy on the medium of instruction (MOI) will allow more junior secondary school students to attend classes in English. A veteran involved in formulating the MOI policy over the years said the issue was also political as it affected schools’ survival.