Unreported World

Hong Kong's Tiger Tutors (2013x5)

Air date: May 10, 2013

As Education Secretary Michael Gove expresses his admiration for education systems in the Far East, Unreported World travels to Hong Kong to meet the students aiming for success in one of the most competitive exam environments in the world. Reporter Marcel Theroux and producer Lottie Gammon meet the millionaire Lamborghini-driving 'super tutor' who has made his fortune from parents desperate to get their kids into university. Richard Eng has made his fortune coaching school students to get through the final year Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE). The team films him in action at Beacon College - whose 40,000 students come from schools all over Hong Kong - where they've signed up for long evening classes on top of a full day at school. There's no coursework in Hong Kong; everyone's fate is decided by the exam. Three quarters of Hong Kong's students have extra tuition to prepare them for these final year exams. Richard's success is built on his perceived ability to give his students a competitive edge. One of Richard's students is 17-year-old JJ. Theroux visits his small apartment, on the 19th floor of a public housing estate. JJ's dream is to be a PE teacher and he needs to pass his exams to get into university and teacher training. Neither of his parents had been to university and they've scraped together the money to send him to Beacon College as his school had a low success rate in getting students into university. But JJ is competing with students at elite schools, with pushier parents, and who have been tutored since kindergarten. The pressure is getting to him. He's running a temperature but says he can't afford to skip class. JJ tells Theroux: 'I was talking to my English teacher about exam pressure. Tears welled up and I started crying.' The great promise of education in Hong Kong is that a public exam sat by all allows children from any background to excel. But in a city as unequal as this one, with large disparities