Ethnic minority youngsters in Hong Kong encounter a lot of problems within the public education system here. My own experience confirms such difficulties do exist, the result of inappropriate attention spared by the local public education system to the needs of minority children.
Three years ago, I received one A, two Bs and a C in the Hong Kong A-level examinations. But I later found out that such results were not good enough to secure me a place in a local university through JUPAS admission. Fearing that the JUPAS system was not fair, I made direct inquiries to the universities, including the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. They told me that because I had not attained a C in French I was not qualified to be admitted to their accountancy programmes. I couldn't understand why and how they came up with such a requirement - French has nothing to do with local tertiary education. If we, the non-Chinese students, are required to have French because we don't have Chinese, then why are Chinese students not required to attain a C in Chinese?
People told me that with the results I had it was impossible not to receive an offer from one of the 20 local institutions I had applied to. I thought of going to Britain to further my studies, but this would have been a heavy financial burden on my family. Finally, with the help of Baptist University, I did secure a place and have obtained a degree, graduating recently with first-class honours.
I have in the past few years read and heard about the different problems encountered by ethnic minorities in the local public education system. Our repeated complaints about the problems we face have not been looked into.
Hong Kong is always referred to as an international city, and the Government uses this as a slogan for promoting tourism. However, this international status is not evident in the administration's actions. We, the minorities, having been taxpayers for generations, working and contributing to the prosperity of Hong Kong, live and appear as 'exhibition objects' to the tourists in the chaos and darkness of Chung King Mansions. Present conditions of education are not bearable, and despite our repeated complaints, it has never been an issue for the Government.
Only by working towards equality can Hong Kong claim its international status and competitive power. Most importantly, I believe keeping silent has only made our situation worse.
