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Tutoring centre sees big profits in reforms

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He's an economics teacher by day - but by night, Fred Chan Yiu-fai is an economic success story. And he believes his private tuition business can one day follow in the footsteps of Modern Education, which floated on the stock market last year.

'If the books are kept better, it is not impossible,' Chan says. His company, Champagne Education, is already matching the financial figures posted by some start-ups that have gone public, he says.

Banking on changes brought about by the education reforms and a shake-up of the exam structure, he started the company several years ago and says it is already earning him 'millions'.

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At the company's headquarters near bustling Nathan Road, students sit at a long line of computers, on which they can watch lectures they have subscribed to at a convenient time.

'Nowadays, student habits have changed,' Chan says. 'You cannot follow the old way of teaching. They should be able to learn at any time.'

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And he believes his role as chief executive of a business can help him in his day job, teaching economics at Ma On Shan's YCH Tung Chi Ying Memorial School.

For Costa Chan, the new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education, which replaced A-levels as the final exam in the secondary school system and the pathway to university, provided an unexpected opportunity.

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