A hieroglyphic language with different writing and verbal forms, Chinese can be a complicated and difficult language for minority students to learn. Without extra support, they often find it difficult to master the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of the language.
Under the present education system, they can only get promoted to Form Six if they pass the HKCEE Chinese exam.
But, competing with local students whose mother tongue is Chinese, minority students are in a disadvantaged position. Many fail the exam and never end up learning to speak Chinese.
To address the problem, local rights group Hong Kong Unison has launched appeals to the government for a separate Chinese curriculum for minority students. The government has rejected their request saying they believe enough support services are already in place.
Now, with the exemption on language use included in the Race Discrimination Bill, minority students have to make do with the language support they get at schools.