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It's all about scoring in life, as in education, for tutorial king

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Alex Loin Toronto

Tutorial king Kevin Ko issued a rare public apology yesterday, which took up the entire front page of Sing Pao Daily News. Well, it's not much of an apology, really.

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The private economics tutor said he had refunded half of the tuition fees to six students - whose names he published in the 'apology advert' - because they scored only a D grade in their Certificate of Education Examination. It's not clear whether conditions for the refund included agreeing to have their names and exam scores advertised on the front page of a mass-circulation newspaper. He also didn't say whether any of his students flunked the economics exam.

But the real point of the ad is the list of 200-plus students who obtained an A in their report cards. It was the ratio of 34 As for every D that the good sir was drawing attention to in the ad. He claimed their scores had been verified by a law firm.

Taking out whole newspaper pages has become increasingly common among a dozen or so tutors who must qualify as multimillionaires. Sir Ko now operates eight tutorial centres across Hong Kong.

Equally well known for being a property speculator and collector of fashionable brand accessories, his fabulous houses and luxury cars often feature in magazine society pages.

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Sir Ko has successfully inverted the Education Bureau's slogan - education is about learning, not scoring. He has shown it's all about scoring, in life as in education. Just look at his fabulous lifestyle.

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