Activists take their fight all the way to UN
Rights activists are to appeal to the United Nations over the 'indirect racial discrimination' which makes ethnic minority learners pay almost five times as much as local students to get a Chinese-language qualification.
Hong Kong Unison campaign director Fermi Wong Wai-fun said she would present the case to the New York and Geneva-based organisation next month. She said the complaint was among issues that included the lack of an alternative Chinese curriculum for second language learners, inadequate and unsuitable assessment tools, exam fees, teaching materials and textbooks available to ethnic minority students.
'We will present our case during the hearing of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination for China, Hong Kong and Macau,' Ms Wong said. 'We are taking it to the international level because we feel we've exhausted all local channels and the issues have not been addressed'.
Last Saturday, students and parents lodged complaints with the Legislative Council demanding second language learners pay the same exam fee as local students.
Minority students have struggled to pass the Chinese-language Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE), which costs HK$194. The easier British General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Chinese examination - aimed at second language learners - is recognised as an alternative qualification under the Joint University Programmes Admissions System but the fee is HK$965.
About 500 students a year sit the GCSE exam but Ms Wong predicted this figure would increase to more than 1,000 within a decade. The International General Certificate of Secondary Education French exam has been offered as an alternative to the HKCEE French exam for HK$194 and Ms Wong said the Chinese GCSE exam should offer the same option.
Ms Wong said ethnic minority students studying in the same public school system should pay the same Chinese exam fees as their local counterparts, adding that the high exam fee did not help ethnic minorities integrate into the community. 'This is discouraging for the parents,' she said.
'It's easy to find a family with several children sitting the GCSE Chinese exam at the same time and that is a heavy financial burden.'
In response, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority said IGCSE French papers had not been offered as a separate exam but as a substitute for the HKCEE, with students awarded the Hong Kong certificate.
'It is offered for historical reasons not applicable to any other subjects.'
She said the authority had given special consideration to ethnic minority students by offering the four-paper GCSE exam at HK$965.
A spokeswoman for the Education Bureau said there was 'room for downward adjustment of the fees if more students sit the GCSE Chinese examination in future'.
She said the government was exploring ways of alleviating the financial burden on non-Chinese speaking students taking the GCSE Chinese exam and hoped to finalise details before the next round of registrations in November.
