Ghetto treatment blocks advance of Hong Kong's ethnic minority students
York Chow says our education system - and society at large - is failing ethnic minority students by not giving them a fair chance to overcome their difficulties in learning Chinese
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is holding hearings this week to look at the situation in Hong Kong. The Equal Opportunities Commission has long been concerned about discrimination issues affecting our youngsters. One of our priorities is the exclusion of ethnic minorities from equal educational opportunities.
In reality, the hardship ethnic minority students face in accessing higher learning and potential employment opportunities stems primarily from their struggle to master Chinese in their school years. Recently, a media programme reported that only 120 non-Chinese-speaking students were admitted to degree courses last year, representing fewer than 1 per cent of the offers of study places made via the Joint University Programmes Admissions System.
As a principle, segregation should be avoided. Schools are public arenas, serving without favouritism
More must be done for our ethnic minority students. After the 2011 release of our report on education for ethnic minorities, we have been urging the government to commit to broader and longer-term support for these children, including language and cultural programmes starting from a pre-primary level to help them lay a solid language foundation and facilitate their transition into mainstream schools.
Indeed, many ethnic minority families, lacking options, end up sending their children to so-called "designated schools". Although the Education Bureau has recently removed the label "designated" and implemented reforms on how these schools may receive grants to assist non-Chinese-speaking students, these policies are still merely stop-gap measures.
Many of the former "designated schools" represent situations of de facto segregation, which are not conducive to learning Chinese and do not provide youths with chances for wider integration. The schools are tasked with devising their own simplified curriculum - a heavy burden on teachers - and the standards may vary widely between schools. Rather than creating separate schools, what is sorely needed is comprehensive and systemic support at mainstream schools for ethnic minority students to learn effectively alongside their local Chinese peers.
In particular, an alternative Chinese curriculum and testing system is necessary. This curriculum should take into account the specific challenges faced by many ethnic minority students who are learning Chinese as a second or third language, while providing them with practical Chinese skills for future education and employment pursuits.
Their access to opportunities in tertiary education and employment must also be enhanced. We are currently talking to the presidents and vice-chancellors of universities regarding recognition of third-language skills as a bonus in student admission and, so far, all of those we approached have agreed to adopt a flexible approach. A boost in the number of ethnic minority students in our universities would benefit not only those students, but also their classmates who can gain new perspectives and ideas from a diverse learning environment.