The parents of a Hong Kong student at the centre of an academic integrity controversy have said their daughter will voluntarily return all the awards associated with an app she is credited with inventing, as they apologised for the disturbance caused to the public.
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But they also hit out at the “relentless” cyberbullying suffered by their 16-year-old daughter, who was “on the brink of a breakdown”.
Ronnie Poon Tung-ping and Roberta Pang Wen-chi, parents of a Form Four student from St Paul’s Co-educational College in Mid-Levels, broke their silence by issuing a joint statement on Friday, more than two months after the controversy first emerged.
“There were indeed some shortcomings and unwise moves as the incident unfolded. [We] once again express our sincere apologies for the public disturbance this case has caused,” the pair said, adding they hoped their response would “help bring an end to the matter”.
Their daughter submitted the app, called “MediSafe”, to prestigious global competitions as her invention.
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The app, which aims to verify prescriptions using AI, won a silver medal in the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions, Geneva, in 2025, as well as four prizes at the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2024, organised by the Digital Policy Office.