Ethnic minority students in Hong Kong only understand 70 per cent of class syllabus because of weak Chinese language foundation: survey
- Schools urged to provide English context and notes in teaching materials, so such pupils can keep pace with peers
- Problem carries over into low university enrolment rate for this group
Ethnic minority students in Hong Kong only understand 70 per cent of what is taught in class, a survey has found, raising concern about a lack of support for this group in the education system.
Non-Chinese ethnic pupils also said they had difficulty in catching up with their peers, according to the study by the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute, a think tank which questioned some 200 such students from Primary Four to Secondary Three in 17 schools.
“Results show ethnic minority students lack sufficient support in local schools,” said Jacky Fung Chi-ching, manager of the institute’s centre for education policy. The survey was conducted between February and April last year.
“There’s a common misconception that these students, born and raised in Hong Kong, have the same language standard as their local classmates so teachers overlook the need to provide further help.
“And just because they can carry out a conversation in Cantonese, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have a good Chinese language foundation,” Fung added.