Tough at the top: how three Hong Kong students overcame problems to excel in their exams
One student has cerebral palsy, another had drug problems and a third suffers from dyslexia, but they all triumphed despite their handicaps
They say exams are like marathons – long, strenuous and not everyone can finish first.
For pupils with disabilities and social and behavioural problems, many might not have glittering grades like that of top students, but the stories of their struggles and triumphs sometimes outshine those who obtain a perfect score.
Born with a brain lesion that led to cerebral palsy, paralysis on her right side and vision only around 30 per cent of that for healthy people, 20-year-old Lee Tsz-ching recorded the highest score – 22 – among the six Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) students from the special needs Spastics Association of Hong Kong’s Jockey Club Elaine Field School. This will probably get her a subsidised degree place.
In between her five hours of studying for the exams every day over the past year, Lee, often suffering from sore eyes, needed to rest for at least 30 minutes for every hour of study, meaning she needed to spend twice as much time as other students did.
She said she wanted to get into City University’s creative media programme because she enjoyed watching television.