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Letters | Where does budget support for Hong Kong youth leave those from ethnic minorities?
- The government’s funding pledge to promote youth entrepreneurship and promote upward mobility is welcome, but the lack of information for non-Chinese speakers hampers access by ethnic minority youth
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Although the 2020-21 budget announced last week included resources for education and the promotion of youth upward mobility, and caring for society, Hong Kong Unison is concerned that those from the ethnic minorities may face difficulties when accessing such initiatives.
The government has set aside HK$1 billion to support the work of the Youth Development Commission, HK$300 million of which has gone into the Youth Development Fund to support youth entrepreneurship and promote upward mobility.
However, the website of the commission, one of its major communication channels, is not too user-friendly for non-Chinese readers. Information on the Youth Development Fund and other programmes such as internships and exchanges refer readers to the Chinese versions for more information.
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The Chinese-language proficiency of ethnic minority youth is generally poor due to systemic flaws of our mainstream education. Since the government acknowledges that people from ethnic minorities are important members of Hong Kong society, these locally born and raised young people should be given equal access to information and opportunities, particularly on youth development.
On early childhood education, the government has allocated HK$990 million to provide social work services for pre-primary institutions. Hong Kong Unison has always advocated cultural sensitivity training for all social workers; to date, however, it is not a mandatory training.
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