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<h1 class="" id="page-title">Plans for ethnic minority pupils to get new Chinese-language curriculum</h1> </div>
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<div class=""><p>Policy
address set to announce plans for a new framework for teaching Chinese
as a second language to better integrate ethnic minority children</p>
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<div class="" datetime="2014-01-08T04:14:09+08:00">PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 08 January, 2014, 4:14am</div><div class="">UPDATED : Wednesday, 08 January, 2014, 4:50am</div> </div>
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<div class=""><p>Jennifer Ngo <a href="mailto:jennifer.ngo@scmp.com">jennifer.ngo@scmp.com</a></p>
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<p>The
upcoming policy address is expected to set out plans to boost resources
for learning Chinese as a second language in mainstream schools - a
crucial step towards better integrating ethnic minority children into
society.</p>
<p>The language barrier has long been cited as a key factor that has
kept Southeast Asian and South Asian ethnic minorities on the periphery
of Hong Kong society, living for generations in poverty.</p>
<p>This would be the first time the government has promised to put in
place resources and a curriculum framework to help children struggling
to become fluent in the local language. Those struggles inhibit many
pupils from getting into top schools and push tertiary education
opportunities further out of their reach.</p>
<p>"Having a 'Chinese as a second language' curriculum is
non-negotiable," Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, executive committee chairwoman of
ethnic minority advocacy NGO, Unison, said. "It is the key - we will
not settle for less.</p>
<p>"The government must pledge to take the responsibility to set up a
true 'Chinese as a second language' curriculum - including allocating
resources, setting up an overseeing committee, and designing a
curriculum."</p>
<p>According to a source with close knowledge of the government's
education plans, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy speech this
month will announce plans to establish a pre-primary language-assessment
system and a curriculum framework for the primary level. It will also
announce plans to free up resources for training teachers of Chinese as a
second language.</p>
<p>"There has to be a course goal, teaching methodology, teaching
materials and assessment tools in a basic curriculum," Chung Lai-ming, a
Chinese teacher who has worked with ethnic minority students for a
decade, said.</p>
<p>"I understand that this cannot be achieved in a day, but it has to start somewhere."</p>
<p>Applied Chinese learning - such as teaching enough Chinese to perform
a specific role - was not an acceptable alternative, Ng said.</p>
<p>It was necessary for the government to provide a curriculum taught in
mainstream schools from kindergarten to the end of secondary school
that would enable young ethnic minority people to become fluent in both
written and spoken Chinese, she said.</p>
<p>If this was not "written in black and white" in the policy address, Unison would be ready to take action, she added.</p>
<p>"We would push the Equal Opportunities Commission to conduct an
investigation to see if the government is in contravention of the [Race
Discrimination Ordinance]," she warned.</p>
<p>The group would also consider a judicial review, she added.</p>
<p>There are approximately 15,000 ethnic minority pupils in the
education system, with most attending 31 out of 852 government schools.</p><p><a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1400110/plans-ethnic-minority-pupils-get-new-chinese-language-curriculum">http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1400110/plans-ethnic-minority-pupils-get-new-chinese-language-curriculum</a><br>
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