Hong Kong protests and coronavirus pandemic drive record stress levels for school leavers awaiting Diploma of Secondary Education results
August 19, 2020
Original Article: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3093458/hong-kong-protests-and-coronavirus-pandemic-drive-record
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.
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.
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