Exam body defends denying unwell DSE candidate access to lift before assessment

Hong Kong’s examination authority has defended an invigilator who refused to let a candidate with anxiety use a school lift after he started feeling unwell before his second assessment, arguing the man had not requested the facility in advance.Speaking to the South China Morning Post, private candidate Ray Lau* alleged that the incident occurred on April 13 at Caritas St Joseph Secondary School during the break between the first and second mathematics papers for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam.He said he was retaking the course and mathematics extended part two after a previous attempt in 2016, to improve his credentials for a teaching job.Lau, who is in his twenties, sat the exam in a special room because of his medical history, which includes an anxiety disorder that can produce cardiac symptoms and obsessive-compulsive disorder.He told the SCMP he was prescribed a medication for anxiety and cardiac symptoms, and was previously hospitalised at a psychiatric hospital from late December 2025 to mid-January this year.Lau said that the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) had informed invigilators of his medical history.