‘Deeply worrying’ that some Hong Kong preschools reject ethnic minority pupils, equality watchdog says
Latest survey of 179 kindergartens reflects struggle for city to better integrate ethnic minorities, as many do not give non-native speakers Chinese language support, affecting their future social mobility
Hong Kong has kindergartens that provide free half-day programmes, but one in four has shut its doors to ethnic minorities while far more do not give such pupils any support in learning the Chinese language, which is crucial for their social mobility.
These findings by the Equal Opportunities Commission, released on Wednesday, came from its survey of 179 – or a quarter – of the 743 local kindergartens that began providing free education from last year. The kindergartens surveyed were located in 11 of the city’s 18 districts, and researchers found that more than 2,000 pupils enrolled in the 179 preschools were not native Chinese speakers. They accounted for over 28 per cent of some 7,100 non-Chinese-speaking pupils in all 876 local kindergartens.
Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities must not be forgotten
Commission chief executive Michael Chan Yick-man said: “We are deeply worried that more than 25 per cent of the kindergartens surveyed rejected ethnic minority students.
“We are stunned to learn that some 20 per cent of the schools used the child’s proficiency in Chinese language to screen applicants.”
Schools risked committing “indirect discrimination” if they based their treatment of ethnic minority students on their language abilities, the commission warned.
The free kindergarten scheme began last year, and 140 kindergartens with eight or more non-Chinese speaking pupils were given nearly HK$51 million to ensure there were enough teachers and that they were sufficiently trained to help minority students learn the Chinese language.