Child welfare miserable, says lobby
School costs far outweigh payments, concern group claims
Welfare payments for children's school-related spending are woefully inadequate, a concern group says.
They covered only about half the actual spending on books, uniforms, stationery and extra-curricular activities, Concerning CSSA Review Alliance said yesterday.
It said a survey it conducted this month had also found the food allowance was too little in many cases.
The group called on the government to review the social security system and amend the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments according to current living costs.
'Inadequate allowances for CSSA children will cause malnutrition and limit their opportunities to join social activities and in the long term weaken their confidence,' social worker Au Yeung Tat-chor complained.
For a primary pupil, the alliance said the annual cost of books, uniforms, stationery and miscellaneous items was $4,272, while the allowance is $2,505, leaving a gap of $1,767.
The gap for a junior high school student is $2,046 and for a senior school student $2,109.
While most children surveyed said the $195 a month for lunch was enough, just under a quarter said they needed more, spending on average $176 more than the allowance.
The group interviewed 113 children from CSSA-recipient families.
A single mother of three daughters, who only gave her surname as Chan, said she worried about her daughters' pessimistic attitude towards life as the family could not afford the money for any extra-curricular activities.
'My daughters give up any course which needs money,' Ms Chan said.
She lives with her second and youngest daughters, who are in Form 3 and Primary 4. The eldest is now at university and pays her own way.
To save money, the three of them do not have breakfast and buy two lunchboxes, which cost $20, to share every day. They seldom go out for dinner.
'I don't want my daughters to feel inferior, but we have no way out,' Ms Chan said.
'I worry about my second daughter the most, she is so thin.'
Welfare payments were cut by 11.1 per cent overall in June 2003, including a reduction in the children's meal allowance from $220 to $195.
A Legislative Council welfare subcommittee will soon discuss allowances to the elderly, the disabled and children.
The group hopes the government will reinstate the welfare cuts from 2003 and give money to children according to their actual costs on lunches.
