Despite introducing bilingual tests, fire service ‘still needs to do more’ to recruit Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities

Despite failing the tests twice and being told by many of his friends to give up, Shakir Mohammad successfully achieved his dream of joining the fire department this month – becoming only the third person from an ethnic minority in the city to do so.

Yeung Kai-wang, assistant divisional officer from the recruitment, training and examination group, said “many people from an ethnic minority background can speak and understand Cantonese like a local, but they struggle with writing. They often told me that language seemed to be a barrier that hampered them from joining us.”

This is borne out by Mohammad who admitted he struggled with the language when he first arrived in Hong Kong at the age of seven. “I memorised Chinese characters like pictures which was quite difficult,” said the 25-year-old who now works at Tsim Sha Tsui fire station.

Recalling the arduous process to achieve his goal, Mohammad recalled failing to finish quizzes in training school on time and being made to spend up to 10 hours writing out words and phrases repeatedly in Chinese as punishment. Meanwhile, it only took his contemporaries four hours to finish. The instructor later prepared him notes and tests in English.

Despite Mohammad’s success, the department recognises that it still needs to do more to attract and recruit ethnic minority personnel, aware of the potential benefits a more diverse service would bring.