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.
There’s a common misconception that these students, born and raised in Hong Kong, have the same language standard as their local classmates
According to the 2016 population by-census, there were 584,383 ethnic minority residents in Hong Kong, accounting for 8 per cent of the city’s residents.
To understand the reading and writing abilities of ethnic minority students, researchers used standard textbooks and questions from the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) to test them.
These included teaching materials from subjects such as general studies, mathematics, as well as the musical and visual arts.
Ethnic minority pupils still struggling with Cantonese at school
Results showed that upper primary level respondents only scored 25 out of 100 on questions in Chinese relating to maths, general studies and physical education.
Lower secondary pupils scored 30 out of 100 in these areas.
The institute indicated that students were weak in reading and writing Chinese for non-language subjects, with an understanding of only 70 per cent of the text provided.
Researchers said the results were cause for concern.
When ethnic minority students are separated at school from ethnic Chinese peers
According to Fung, the problem carries over into low university enrolment rates for such students, with ethnic minorities accounting for only 1.4 per cent of the 2016-17 intake.
More than 60 per cent of respondents also admitted they did not have a clear understanding of subjects taught in Chinese.
Some 63 per cent of Primary Four to Primary Six pupils, and 76 per cent of Secondary One to Secondary Three students said they had trouble catching up with the curriculum.
Ferrick Chu Chung-man, acting chief operating officer of the Equal Opportunities Commission, which funded the survey, said the figures indicated a loophole in the racial discrimination law.
“Cantonese and Mandarin are the mediums of instruction at local schools and they are exempted from the discrimination ordinance, meaning there’s nothing students or parents can do if the school decides on using these primary teaching languages.”
Chu urged the administration to review current legislation to better protect the rights of ethnic minority students.
“Before this, I hope teachers can try to cater to non-Chinese speaking pupils by including some English terms or explanations in context, as well as providing class notes.”
