Emily Hung

1 week ago | scmp.com | Emily Hung

The breaking point for Hong Kong student Sarah* came in November 2023. The daily stream of tests and quizzes for her Form One classes became too much for the then 13-year-old, and she simply stopped going to school. “It just never ends. I had to study 16 subjects, and almost all had quizzes, even for music and religious classes,” she said. “It was so exhausting. Whenever I failed, I had to do a re-quiz on top of the scheduled quizzes on that day.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Emily Hung

The scrapping of a HK$2,500 (US$322) government study grant could force up to 60 per cent of underprivileged Hong Kong parents to cut back on their children’s extracurricular activities and educational support, according to a survey by two concern groups. The poll was published on Tuesday by Care for Carers and Alliance for Children Development Rights, with both organisations urging authorities to retain the scheme to alleviate the financial stress placed on underprivileged families.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Emily Hung

A British member of parliament has been denied entry to Hong Kong, in what she has called the first incident of its kind since 1997. Wera Hobhouse, the MP for Bath and a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which has been critical of Beijing’s handling of human rights issues, said she was travelling to Hong Kong to visit her newborn grandson.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Fiona Sun |Emily Hung

The number of community nannies under a Hong Kong childcare programme declined sharply by more than 40 per cent from 2023 to last year, with industry players attributing the dip partly to carers’ fears over abuse allegations following an earlier scandal that tarnished the service.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Denise Tsang |Emily Hung |Yulu Ao |Lam Ka-sing

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po warned of more volatile trading ahead but refrained from intervening in the market after the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index suffered its steepest fall in decades on Monday amid fears over repercussions of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. While Chan held off from introducing measures, he nevertheless warned that investors should be cautious as “pessimism” enveloped the world.