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SCMP Reporter

Outstanding students in this year's Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination may receive substantial financial rewards.

    After the results are released today, students who score nine or 10 distinctions will even receive small gold statues, worth about $2,000 each, donated by a goldsmith's shop.

  But social workers fear the awards will promote materialism and force future students to sign up for more exam subjects than they can handle.

  The keen competition may even drive some students to cheat in their exams in a bid to achieve higher scores, they said.

  The Examinations Authority found nine students cheated in this year's HKCEE.

  For the first time, a candidate was found to have made a call with his mobile phone from a toilet during the examination. His conversation was overheard by the examiner who escorted him there.

  The candidate was disqualified from the subject concerned.

  Choi Chee-cheong, the authority's secretary, yesterday warned students not to carry or use pagers or mobile phones during exams.

  Mr Choi said about 121,000 candidates sat for this year's HKCEE and 59.8 per cent of the total subject entrants obtained grade E or above - about a one per cent drop from last year.

  He said the gap between the top and bottom students was widening and that private candidates were much weaker.

  The percentage of students who scored grade E or above in English language, for instance, had dropped by three to 54.5 per cent.

  About 100 outstanding students will take a share of $1 million in scholarships, according to the Student Financial Assistance Agency.

  A super scholar may cash in about $21,000 from the Charles Frankland Moore Award, the Education Scholarship fund and Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund.

  Some may receive more than $15,000 each - enough to pay their Form Six and Seven school fees.

  But Wu Kai-cheong, of Hok Yau Club's student guidance centre, said book coupons were better than cash or gold awards. He feared some students would become materialistic.

  The Examinations Authority said more than 400 Ma On Shan students who were trapped on roads on May 10 because of the mass breakout at Whitehead detention centre had their HKCEE English language results upgraded.

  Thirteen students who missed the exams were given assessed grades based on their three other English papers and their school rankings in these papers. Eleven students who were late to the exam centres had their marks adjusted.



Big rewards await top students