Hong Kong protests and coronavirus pandemic drive record stress levels for school leavers awaiting Diploma of Secondary Education results

With their final year hit by Covid-19 and unrest disruption, ex-pupils are anxious over how they fared in university entrance exams, and future job prospects

Most school leavers record stress reading above 7 out of 10, the highest level since Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups survey started for DSE

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Secondary school students in Hong Kong took Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams amid the turbulence of 2019/20. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 5:05pm, 16 Jul 2020Updated: 7:21pm, 3 Aug 2020

Hong Kong school leavers awaiting their results for university entrance exams are more stressed than ever, worrying about their test performance and job prospects under the double whammy of the Covid-19 pandemic and anti-government protests, a youth survey has found.

The poll, released on Wednesday by non-profit organisation the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG), also found a larger proportion of students were considering heading overseas to continue their studies if they did not get into their preferred local institutions.

Findings showed nearly 52 per cent of the 538 Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) candidates polled between June 27 and July 14 returned a stress reading of seven or above – on a rising scale of one to 10 – amounting to a 4 per cent increase on last year’s figures.

This year’s student stress index was a record high since the DSE exams were first introduced in 2012, replacing the previous Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and A-levels.

The 52,000 or so candidates who sat the DSE exams this year, and are due to find out their results next week, encountered major disruption over their final year, including a one-month delay to sitting the tests because of the pandemic, while face-to-face classes were also suspended from early February.

A number of students also said they were beset with uncertainty over months of anti-government protests which erupted last June, initially over the now-withdrawn extradition bill.

Of the 9,000 protest-related arrests made over the past year, about 40 per cent involved secondary school pupils and tertiary-level students.

Although more than 66 per cent of respondents said the main source of stress came from the possibility of not meeting their own expectations, some 28 per cent were worried their progress had been disrupted by class suspensions.