Every trade has its masters

Scientist Marie Curie said, "We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained."

Two days ago, I invited 10 young people to a tea gathering at my office. They had just returned to Hong Kong from the WorldSkills Competition in Leipzig, Germany. What I saw in them was their enthusiasm for their careers and confidence in themselves.

After many months of intensive training, these 10 students represented Hong Kong to compete at the event hailed as the "Skills Olympics". They compete with over 1 000 contestants from more than 50 countries and regions in 10 skills. Among them, Miss Chloe Chan, Mr Wong Yat-sing and Mr Wong Chung-man, from the Vocational Training Council (VTC), won Medallions of Excellence in Beauty Therapy, IT Software Solutions for Business and Web Design respectively.

Chloe and Chung-man thought that the competition had broadened their horizons by giving them a good chance to see for themselves the skills of overseas participants. Yat-sing considered it his honour to have won an award for Hong Kong with his talent. Another competitor in Plumbing and Heating, Mr Yuen Siu-cheung, whom I had met during my visit to a training centre of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) earlier on, said that he had learnt a lot from the competition and his skills had further improved.

Miss Chloe Chan won a Medallion of Excellence in Beauty Therapy with her remarkable beauty care skills and creative make-up design.		Mr Wong Yat-sing, who was completely absorbed in the competition, won a Medallion of Excellence in IT Software Solutions for Business.

I am glad to see that our young technicians have seized this valuable opportunity to compete and exchange experience with their peers from all over the world, resulting in enhanced skills and higher self-esteem. This will also help boost the development of their respective trades.

After continual practice, Mr Wong Chung-man did well in the competition, winning a Medallion of Excellence in Web Design.		The Chief Executive together with the 10 Hong Kong delegates.

In this world, every trade has its masters. Although some young people may not get satisfactory results at public examinations, they can still enrol in vocational or professional training courses to unleash their potential and develop their careers according to their own interests. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government attaches great importance to education, which accounts for over one-fifth of our recurrent expenditure. We have also devoted substantial resources to providing flexible and multiple study pathways for young people so that they can build a solid foundation for their career development in various trades and professions. For example, a large number of training places are provided by the VTC and the CIC, where the 10 students that I met study.

Tomorrow, the results of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination will be released. I wish those students who get good grades even greater success in the future. For those whose results are not as good, please do not give up. Follow another track and you can still realise your dreams.

Whether in life or in the workplace, perseverance is the key to success. I hope that regardless of their examination results, all students will look to these 10 young people as role models and work hard to create their own future.

Video of the Chief Executive and 10 young people at the tea gathering

Video of Hong Kong delegates participating in the competition in Germany (provided by the VTC)

July 14, 2013