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Mimi Lau

Among the 15 shining stars with straight As in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination yesterday, two students - from Venezuela and Pakistan - at Delia Memorial School (Broadway)  in Mei Foo  received level 1  for Chinese language.
Lilibetm Hilman Siu Xiao, 18,  arrived from Venezuela at the age of three.
'This year's HKCEE Chinese examination was really challenging and totally different from the format of  previous years,' said Lilibetm, who achieved a level 1 at HKCEE Chinese.
Kiran Kosar,  17, a locally born Pakistani girl, said she was happy to achieve a level 1 in the Chinese exam.
'My Chinese has improved a lot in the last five years ... but I was struggling with the listening component during exams,' Kiran said. 'I have good Chinese listening, but I just couldn't match what I heard with the texts on the exam paper.'
Kiran said she planned to repeat Form Five and hoped to achieve a level 2 in Chinese next year.
Sohail Saghir,  17, from Pakistan with a total of 13 points in the best six subjects achieved, was  in tears even though he was able to proceed to Form Six.
'Everyone has high expectations for me and I let them down,' Sohail said. 'My only problem in Chinese is the writing part because it's all about memorisation.'
Shaman Mehnaz,  17, came to Hong Kong from Pakistan only seven years ago, but she could now translate for her family.
'When I was at Form One, I could only use Chinese to say you, me and he,' Shaman said.
'I spent a lot of time learning Chinese that virtually all of my Easter and Christmas holidays were dedicated into it.'
The school's principal, Chan Kui-pui,  said the extra efforts made by students from ethnic minorities in learning Chinese were not being recognised by the exams.
'The exam can only reflect the students' actual ability in Chinese language when comparing to the local students,' Dr Chan said. 'Luckily the kids get one more chance to further their studies with their GCSE Chinese results.'
This is the second year the  Examinations and Assessment Authority has run the British GCSE Chinese exam as an alternative for non-Chinese-speaking students - of which there were about 350 in Form Five this year - as an alternative to the HKCEE.
Earlier this year, universities announced they were willing to accept it as an entrance qualification for a wide range of subjects.
Fermi Wong Wai-fun,  campaign director of Hong Kong Unison,  an NGO  representing ethnic minorities, said the government should call on local universities to actively consider GCSE Chinese for these students for admission purposes as well as promoting the exam's popularity among local employers.



Minority students struggle with Chinese test