bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Elaine Yau

More than three decades of swotting up on reams of notes and sitting a minimum of six subjects to qualify for a higher-level education in the city will end on Wednesday. 
The results of the last Form Five public exam - also known as the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination  (HKCEE)  - will be released, drawing the curtain down on a citywide assessment system. 
From now on, pupils will stay in secondary school for a sixth year and sit for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education,  which replaces A-levels. 
The two systems will operate in parallel until 2012. 
The predecessor of the HKCEE was the Hong Kong School Certificate Examination, run by the colonial government from 1937. It was later renamed the Hong Kong English School Certificate Examination. 
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority was set up in 1977 and the HKCEE has operated to this day. 
Eastern District councillor Desmond Lee Yu-tai  sat the school cert exam in 1962 - the same year as Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen  - and was the best student among 10,000 candidates that year. He scored seven As and one B. 
Lee said the exam helped the city select talent to run society. 'Hong Kong is a city that advocates meritocracy,' he said.
'The citywide exam was a leveller ... you could climb the rungs and pursue lofty positions in society, irrespective of your origin.'
Now people bemoan the many obstacles facing pupils with even kindergartens putting young children through admission interviews.
 But Lee said it was tough even in the 1950s. 'Over 30,000 students had to sit a primary public exam to fight for a subsidised school place. Only 20 per cent could gain a place,' said Lee, who studied at Wah Yan College, Kowloon, from Primary Six to Form Six.
'The primary public exam now becomes the Secondary School Places Allocation  system. It's just a name change. The school cert was renamed the HKCE but it's still a selective mechanism that screens out the [laggards].' 
Before the implementation of nine-year free education in 1978, those who couldn't secure a subsidised place had to enrol in private schools, which charged expensive fees. 
'I just paid HK$48 per month in Primary Six. As I finished top of the class every year, I just paid HK$12 per month for my whole secondary school years.'
While the HKCEE was long maligned for promoting spoon-fed education, Lee said rote learning was a core element of learning. 
'I would attribute 50 per cent of my academic success to rote learning. Other factors include intelligence, luck, aptitude and diligence. You must recite grammar rules and poems from Tang and Song dynasties, otherwise you have nothing. Rote learning helps build a foundation of knowledge.
'I remember those poems to this day. If you ask a university professor to challenge me in poem recitation, I am sure I will beat him.' 
The number of candidates has grown from 10,000 in the 1960s to today's 100,000. Only about 30,000 Form Six places are available every year. With 70,000 candidates failing to secure a matriculation ticket leading to a university degree, Lee said the exam neglected other attributes and strengths beyond the academic sphere. 
'There are too many people. They need to sift a large bunch out.' 
However, he said the survival of the fittest exam principle had abated a lot compared to his study years. 
'There were only two universities [University of Hong Kong and Chinese University] then. The elitist nature of the system has been watered down a lot following the introduction of more practical learning subjects for the exam.'
The first sign of attaching less importance to pure academic knowledge was seen in 1950 when the government reduced the number of compulsory subjects to just one - English - and added practical sessions including laboratory work. 
The number of exam subjects has also expanded over the years to take into account different abilities. There were only 28 subjects on offer in 1978 compared to 37 now. 
Lee said the introduction of applied learning subjects for the new senior secondary curriculum further watered down the elitist nature of the exam. 
'The new curriculum ends the segregation of students into arts or science streams, exposing them to a wide range of knowledge areas,' said Lee, 65, who graduated from the history department of Chinese University in 1963 and was among the first-batch of mater graduates from the university in 1965. 
Chung Kim-wah,  assistant professor in applied social sciences at Polytechnic University, said the HKCEE should not be the only yardstick against which to measure a person's stature.
'There must be other factors, like a student's community service record or experience in joining extra-curricular activities.'
With the diploma exam replacing the HKCEE and Hong Kong A-levels, Chung said the 'life-and-death' nature of a public exam would become more obvious. 'If you stumbled in the HKCEE, you still had the chance of redemption in A-levels. But in future only one exam determines your chance of entering university ... which will put much more pressure on parents and students.'
Lee says the key to success, whether at school or work, is diligence. 
His mother, a housewife, and father, a merchant, did not know a word of English but he said a public exam could ensure that a child from humble origins could attain success. 
Chung said: 'The HKCEE served its function as an impartial adjudicator. A poor boy from a public housing estate could be a 10A star.'
As the HKCEE draws to an end, Lee said a public exam was just a record of scores that should never be seen as a 'scorch mark' on life. 
'Donald Tsang's scores then didn't even have an A or B. His marks couldn't even get him into matriculation class. If public exam results are so important, it should be me who is serving as the chief executive now.'




End of an era in quest for academic excellence