Legislators yesterday accused the government of neglecting the education needs of minorities after a Hong Kong Muslim leader warned of a 'time bomb' of disaffected youths from ethnic groups.
Legislator Cheung Man-kwong said there was 'downright discrimination' in the education system against minority groups.
United Muslim Association of Hong Kong chairman Mohamed Alli Din was reported in yesterday's South China Morning Post as saying that more young people from ethnic minorities were getting involved in gangs because they were not getting a proper education in mainstream schools.
He warned of a 'time bomb' following the murder of a 22-year-old Pakistani man in a gang feud on Sunday. Two suspects have been arrested over the knife attack.
Mr Cheung said: 'The government may just as well have dumped them, as lessons in mainstream schools are conducted in Cantonese.'
He said most of the minority students could barely read Chinese, although they might be able to speak Cantonese.
'Only the rich can afford to go to international or private schools to get educated properly. Unfortunately, the minority families are usually very poor,' Mr Cheung said.
