On Second Thought: Hong Kong must develop abilities of less gifted youngsters

A new joint-school career-planning initiative called "Shape Our Future: WeCan! - Project WeCan Career Exploration Day" hosted by Wharf Holdings was launched last month. The programme serves about 50 schools in the current school year. The programme targets Form Four students and aims to enhance students' self-understanding and motivation in career planning, and offers vocational assessments, job tasters, star talks, workshops and consultation sessions for students, teachers and parents.

More than 2,300 students, parents and teachers took part in the initiative. Many different types of jobs were offered by participating companies - in fields ranging from beauty care to sales, property management and social services.

Such jobs do not necessarily pay well, but they do provide job opportunities for those who don't move on to tertiary education.

Furthermore, more than 50 per cent of our working population is in sales and service industries.

The students being supported by "Project WeCan" are not academic high flyers, but the schools are working very hard to provide them with a good education.

The chance of these students getting into university is low, but they still have to struggle with a curriculum which is designed for tertiary education. For some, the six years of high school study can be a demoralising experience as their other abilities cannot be fully developed through such an academically demanding curriculum.