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Letters | Hong Kong’s youth and SMEs would both benefit from a government-sponsored internship programme
- Our education system isn’t giving students the job experience they need while SMEs struggle to find the right staff, especially those with digital skills
- A talent cultivation programme connecting students to positions and training SMEs to work with them could be the answer
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Why you can trust SCMP
Youth training and talent development are not purely about education but learning new life skills and matching one’s interests with the opportunities in the real world. Our education system focuses on academic excellence and fails to nurture students with programmes that help them develop trust, build self-esteem and acquire life skills. In contrast, authentic learning programmes are designed to help students to become more inclusive and resilient.
The Hong Kong government does not offer fiscal support for citywide internship programmes. It is up to the industry to find its own way or to NGOs running specific programmes for students with better grades. Some students may have a chance to experience such authentic learning opportunities if their colleges and university departments organise some form of apprenticeship, internship programme or industry attachment programme. Meanwhile, some students count on working part-time at fast-food restaurants while others find random work through random opportunities.
It has always been challenging for Hong Kong’s 340,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to find the right staff or part-time help and to transform themselves to face the digital world. It has been equally challenging for students to find the right employer who will give them a chance to learn and earn some income. The current system lacks market efficiency.
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The small-scale yet expensive youth exchange and internship programme reported by the Post on August 21 has very little positive impact, with only 149 sponsored internships in 2019. By comparison, in 2019, my own company with a permanent headcount of only 40 people, took in about 10 students. Clearly, the government programme’s funding has not been very efficiently managed.
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Not all SMEs provide good supervision and mentorship for interns; supervisors may simply treat students as low-cost labour. To overcome this, funds should be allocated to offer SMEs professional guidance and training on how to best mentor student interns.
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