Letters | Why international schools may not be the best choice for Hong Kong’s marginalised ethnic minority students
- Even if scholarships allow more students from disadvantaged minority communities to join international schools, this will not help their integration into the wider Hong Kong society
While we are thankful to the authors, Shalini Mahtani and Susan Collins, for their suggestions on how to promote cultural diversity in the current education system, we would like to highlight some challenges and possible issues that could arise based on their recommendations on offering scholarships to marginalised ethnic minority children to study in international schools and on mastering Cantonese before entering university.
A scholarship programme for ethnic minority youth sounds like a positive move. However, having ethnic minority students study in international schools might exacerbate the existing social integration challenges – such as language, cultural nuances and economic issues – faced by children from ethnic minority communities in terms of fitting into mainstream Hong Kong society.
Will international schools be properly equipped for these ethnic minority students in terms of cultural competency of school staff and overall pastoral care? How will international schools bridge the socioeconomic gap between their current students and this group of scholarship awardees?
