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- DSE Results｜Children's Home Candidate scores 31 marks Cheung: Fulfils his mother's wish by joining university
DSE Results｜Children's Home Candidate scores 31 marks Cheung: Fulfils his mother's wish by joining university
Published: 2020-07-23 14:50 Updated: 2020-07-23 15:18
Cheung Kam To (left) and Lam Hon Ping (right), a registered social worker. (Photo by Ma Wai Kit)
The 2020 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE) results were released yesterday (22nd), and Cheung Kam To, a candidate from the International Social Service Children's Home of Hong Kong, scored 31 points in the examination. Cheung, who studied at the Chinese Missionary Alliance Lau Wing Sang Secondary School, scored 4 in English Language, Mathematics and Biology, 5* in Chinese Language and Liberal Studies, and 5** in History, which is 27 points based on the best 5 subjects.
Fulfilling his mother's wish to go to university
Cheung was born in a single-parent family. His mother died of cancer at the age of nine when he was in Primary Five, and he has been taken care of in a children's home ever since. His mother's last wish was for him to go to university, and based on his diploma results, he believes he can fulfil his dream.
Cheung said that there were eight children aged between 6 and 18 in the Small Group Home, who were looked after by a couple and had a close relationship with them. Cheung described the home as a family where they support each other in times of difficulties. For example, last year, due to social events or epidemics, the school switched from physical classes to online classes, and the others living with him would disconnect the wifi to avoid affecting his studies. If the crowd is too noisy, he will go to other quieter homes to study.
Cheung Kam To says his mother's wish was for him to go to university. (Photo by Ma Wai Kit)
Since childhood, he has been fond of sports and believes that athletes deserve respect.
In terms of choice of subjects, Cheung's top three aspirations are to study sports at the Baptist University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Education respectively. He said that he has always been inclined towards sports and believes that athletes who persist in pursuing their ideals are worthy of respect. He is particularly interested in handball and hopes to join the Hong Kong team in the future and become a sports coach after graduation.
Tutoring with savings: Learning as an investment
The home provides only the necessities of life for the children who stay there. Cheung says that he has to rely on his own CSSA savings to pay for his tutorials, and that the principal of the secondary school has introduced him to a parent who tutored him in English at a low cost, but the tutoring expenses have left him with very little in his savings. However, Cheung believes that spending money on learning is a worthwhile investment. To earn a living, he works part-time in a fast-food restaurant and tutors for other people.
Children in the Small Group Homes will have to leave the family home when they reach the age of 18. Cheung said he would have to find another place to live in the future. His current plan is to rent a shared house or live in a university dormitory, but the university dormitory was closed last year due to an epidemic. He admits that he hopes to be allocated a public housing unit as a stable place to live.
The original plan to grab points in the oral examination has been cancelled with great impact.
Regarding the cancellation of the Chinese and English oral examinations and the History subject, Cheung Kam-to said that the incident had a great impact on him. He said that he had planned to score more marks in the Chinese and English oral examinations, and said that if the Chinese oral examination could be held as usual, he was confident that he would get 5** in Chinese Language. He also felt that he had performed well in the cancelled questions of History, and thought that he could gain a lot of marks, and fortunately, he was able to get 5** in History at the end of the day.
