Beating the odds: Hong Kong teacher’s timely advice made the difference for boy from ethnic minority group
- Many from minority groups face school and workplace challenges, but persistence, hard work pays
- Aside from more government, community support, those from ethnic minority groups ‘need good mentors too’
An information management graduate, a bus driver and a student nurse may seem to have little in common, but Harvir Singh, Ehsan Nawaz and Kainaat Asif are out to prove that those from Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities can succeed despite hurdles in their way.
Singh, 22, was at a loss five years ago when he did poorly in university entrance examinations.
The son of a construction foreman said it stung when a high school classmate recalled what a teacher had told a class: “If your parents are construction workers, you are going to be construction workers. It’s no use trying out other things.”
Hong Kong-born Singh said: “It just reflected the mentality of a lot of teachers. They don’t think ethnic minority kids are capable of achieving something.”
Fortunately for him, another teacher who knew he was keen on computers advised him to enrol for an associate degree in information technology, which had lower admission requirements.
He landed a place at Baptist University and did well enough in the two-year course to proceed to an undergraduate degree programme in information management at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
He graduated last year and now earns more than HK$25,000 (US$3,205) a month managing mobile applications and websites at a coding company.