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A record number of Yuen Long Merchants Association Secondary School students took part in the Hong Kong Award for Young People (HKAYP) scheme.

This year the number of candidates for the Gold Level Award in the school reached 49. The number is the largest among all participating schools in Hong Kong.

All of the students had already fulfilled the requirements of Bronze and Silver Level Awards earlier.

They all expect to complete their services and training for the Gold Level by the end of the summer holiday.

The HKAYP was formerly known as the the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme

The scheme was run by its international headquarters, which is based in London.

The scheme aims to promote a balanced programme for the all-round development of young people all over the world.

Today, 66 member countries with more than 400,000 participants are competing for the award under a number of different titles.

'Our school has been supporting the HKAYP for many years. We always encourage our students to finish their training for Gold Level Award before their seventh form. A vast majority of them manage to do this,' said Au Kam-hing, a teacher who is the school's course organiser for its AYP Committee.

The scheme is open to all young people, aged 14 to 25. Only students aged 16 or over are eligible to undertake the Gold Level training.

All activities to be counted for an award must be completed by their 25th birthday. To qualify for either of the three Awards, Bronze, Silver or Gold, participants have to complete a series of training courses and a period of social services.  Participants for the Gold Level Award must also complete a residential project.

Seventh former Chan Chun-kit said: 'I got my Bronze Level Award when I was in Form Four. Last year, I completed around 30 hours of community service in six months' time at a government nursing home. I also took 15 hours of skills training. Like many of my schoolmates, I took a course on horses, under the supervision of a certified instructor from the Jockey Club. We had to learn how to ride and take care of a horse. Apart from that, I had finished five three-day hiking trips.'

He has just received his Silver Level Award and is working towards the gold one this year.

Sixth former Tsang Chung-wing said: 'By taking part in the Award for Young People scheme I feel that my mind has been broadened.'

To complete the 'expedition' part, the school's candidates for the gold took a six-day trip to Singapore during the census holiday.

They carried out a brief research project on different areas of Singapore society.

It included housing, public transport, mass culture and food supply.

On July 28 another group will visit the city state again. Two candidates are now preparing for an exchange trip to Ireland in September.

The next requirement is the residential project. It requires living away from home for at least five days, doing some voluntary work and training with students from other schools.



Nearly 50 students from one school join youth programme