Editorial | Opportunity there for all in Hong Kong, whatever the result
- With city school exams bringing joy and sorrow, it is best to remember that the door to a good future does not close because of failure to get into university
The month of July has brought joy and sorrow for pupils and parents with the release of examination and admission results. Following the outcome of the International Baccalaureate (IB) and secondary school allocations, tens of thousands of youngsters on Wednesday discovered whether they had made it through the city’s notoriously competitive exams and earned a place in higher education.
As in the past, there are bound to be more losers than winners; but one exam does not make or break one’s life. As with their predecessors in recent years, students have endured a great deal of pandemic-induced hardship.
They are all achievers and deserve to be congratulated.
With only four perfect scorers this year, a new low since the launch of the Diploma of Secondary Education Examination in 2012, concerns over the quality of students are understandable. Among the four core subjects, scores in English language fell slightly.
But candidates made the greatest improvement in Chinese language, with 10.7 per cent of candidates scoring Level 5 or above, up from 9.5 per cent last year. Some 58.9 per cent pupils obtained Level 3 or above for the subject, the basic requirement to enter publicly funded universities. It seems hard to draw any conclusions.