Hong Kong education portal under fire for low readership among teachers, students

Executive director of Hong Kong Education City tells Audit Commission that low usage is due to city’s shrinking student population

A Hong Kong government-funded online portal that provides resources for teachers and school students has failed to meet its user number target, with thousands of items never being downloaded, viewed or used, according to an audit report.

The Audit Commission report, which was released on Wednesday, also cited remarks from the executive director of Hong Kong Education City (EdCity) that the platform’s low usage was due to the city’s shrinking student population.

The report found that the portal’s 272 teaching resources had never been downloaded, about 20 were not viewed at all, and more than 2,700 online assessment items for teachers were never used.

In 2023-24, EdCity’s total income was HK$64.6 million (US$8.2 million), while its expenditure was HK$64.5 million.

The low usage of its electronic resources formed one of the report’s main criticisms.

EdCity launched four electronic resource products, including the eRead Scheme, in 2015 to provide a subscription service for primary and secondary students that granted access to its collection of more than 5,000 Chinese and English electronic books.