Poor students struggle to keep up

I am concerned about the growing wealth gap in Hong Kong. Last year, a survey found that our city's notoriously wide income gap was getting worse. Income disparity is a serious problem for individual citizens and for society as a whole.

One non-governmental organisation director recently pointed out that this disparity would create a knowledge gap. Children from a poor family have limited learning resources and opportunities. Most do not own a computer or electronic dictionary, making it more difficult to study. It is likely that their parents are poorly educated and so cannot help them with their homework.

Without money, these children cannot go to remedial classes if they need help and so end up with poor academic results. Rich children have more opportunities. They can go on study tours to broaden their horizons. If they fail to achieve academically, their parents will put them through foreign schools. In other words, the rich pave the way for their children while the poor can do nothing, creating a gap in knowledge.

The poor tend to have low self-esteem, believing they will not achieve their goals in life while most children from high-income families believe they will. Without that self-confidence, it will be difficult for poor students to escape from poverty.

In this money-conscious city, having plenty of cash means everything. With rising inflation, low-income earners struggle to buy all their daily necessities and to pay rent. As a result, many are forced to endure cramped and dangerous living conditions such as subdivided apartments.

The government has been doing more for the poor. There is a debate over standard working hours legislation and more public housing estates will be constructed. However, it is failing to tackle the root of the problem.