Interview training for preschool pupils? Hong Kong parents say yes, but government objects

Parent-teacher groups in Hong Kong have said most of their members welcome the primary school admissions interview training given by kindergartens, despite education authorities saying it should be scrapped.

In some recently released inspection reports on kindergartens, the Education Bureau said that such mock interviews put undue pressure on children and called for them to be discontinued.

But representative groups said the move would only lead parents to seek out such interview courses for their children at private tutorial centres.

More than 70 inspection reports compiled by the bureau were released on September 6. Thorough checks were conducted by the bureau’s Kindergarten Inspection Section and took between one to four days.

In its reports, the bureau criticised two preschools – Kowloon Cannan Anglo-Chinese Kindergarten in To Kwa Wan and Hong Kong Young Women’s Christian Association On Ting Nursery School in Tuen Mun – for conducting mock admission interviews for their toddlers.