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38 / OUR COMMUNITY

A volunteer helping the locals to do
body check in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy of Projects Abroad

ing with the flow blindly, taking gap than just focusing on earning money,”
year internship only because others she adds.
are taking. But there are also people
knowing well what they are doing and Travelling while working
benefiting from their enjoyable and If students want to work while be-
meaningful experiences.” Wong adds. ing paid to travel during a gap year,
Gapyear.com is an online institu- working holiday sounds like a win-
tion selling gap year planning and win situation.
internship opportunities. The emer- In 2015, more than 11,000 young
gence of such kind of institutions people in Hong Kong successfully
might explain why there are criticisms applied for a working holiday visa,
saying that gap year is gradually devi- according to the Labour and Wel-
ating from its original intention. fare Bureau. The Working Holiday
“Employers are now looking for Scheme, designed by the government,
relevant workplace skills, knowledge provides an opportunity for young-
and passion for the vocation to dif- sters aged between 18 and 30 to en-
ferentiate candidates… The emphasis rich their global exposure in countries
is now firmly on the ‘super-curricu- like New Zealand, Australia, Ireland,
lar’ experience – something which a Germany, Japan and the UK. Thanks
structured gap year offers on a plate!” to its welcoming policy, Australia re-
These appealing words are excerpted mains the most popular destination
from the company’s website. for working holidays, captivating over
However, Sascha Choi On, a Ko- 75 per cent of participants.
rean student from CUHK has a differ- Hong Kong youngsters hoping
ent view. “Nowadays it’s changing. My to enrol in the public universities en-
Asian friends also like to travel during counter high competitions every year.
gap year and they really want to find The high pressure does not allow high
the sense of self such as ‘who I am’, school students to relax, causing emo-
‘what the goal in my life is.” tional problems and low learning mo-
Source: Legislative Council Paper - Ex- “Asian students highly care about tivation. They become the main target
amination of Estimates of Expenditure their inner peace and happiness rather of the Hong Kong Federation of Youth
2016-17 LWB (L) 029