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A girl who was kept out of what her father termed the 'inhumane' Hong Kong education system for 30 months and was then sent to a mainland school had a disappointing start to her delayed secondary education yesterday.

Dearing Leung failed to get a place in her dream school, the Jockey Club Ti- I College in Sha Tin.

But the 'very bright' Primary Six student of the Fresh Fish Traders' School in Tai Kok Tsui will get a second chance, after intervention by her principal, Leung Kee-chong.

Mr Leung said he had made phone calls to the head of the college, who had promised to interview Dearing.

She will attend a written test in English and mathematics tomorrow at the college, which she listed as her first choice for the central allocation system.

'My parents told me not to talk to the press today,' she said, refusing to disclose what school she had been allocated to, except that it was her 13th choice.

'I cannot tell you anything. I can only tell you that I feel very calm. My parents will help me decide which school I will go to.'

Dearing's father, Leung Chi-kwong, started a long struggle with the education system when he withdrew the girl, then nine, from a primary school in Tai Po, saying the education system was inhumane and he would teach her at home.

He later sent her to school on Hainan Island, but she returned to Hong Kong last year and started her Primary Six schooling two years late.

Leung Kee-cheong said that when he called the Sha Tin college the principal had told him Dearing's academic performance was 'not good'.

'I explained to him that is because the assessment was made based on our school's academic aptitude test results between 1997 and 2000 to moderate their performance in internal assessment,' he said.

'The results do not reflect our students' ability at all. My students' academic performance has improved greatly in the last three years. Dearing is a very bright student and very good at languages and physical education. I believe she can work to her full potential if she is admitted to the school.'

Teacher Kelvin Liu Ming-tak praised Dearing as a very intelligent student who had the potential to be a good leader.

'She knows how to lead a group whenever we have class activities. She is very good at adapting to new environments and she did not seem to have difficulty in catching up with school work, though she had not been in school for some time,' said Mr Liu, who has taught Dearing for a year.

He said it would be a great loss for the college if it did not give Dearing a place.



A second chance for 'very bright' student