<div dir="ltr"><div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<h1 itemprop="name headline" class="" id="page-title">Policies needed which give ethnic minorities level playing field</h1> </div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div itemprop="dateCreated" content="2016-08-22T17:36:47+08:00" class="" datetime="2016-08-22T17:36:47+08:00">PUBLISHED : Monday, 22 August, 2016, 5:36pm</div><div itemprop="dateModified" content="2016-08-22T22:01:31+08:00" class=""><span class="">UPDATED : Monday, 22 August, 2016, 10:01pm</span></div> </div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<p><a style="display:block" class="" href="http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2007415/policies-needed-which-give-ethnic-minorities-level-playing-field#comments" title="Comments">Comment: <span class=""><span class="">1</span> </span></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<img src="http://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2016/08/22/21a5f1e0-6825-11e6-87bc-57ed402b26b2_1280x720.JPG?itok=wIU--BW2" class="" alt="" title="Protest calling for education reforms for ethnic minorities. Photo: Felix Wong" height="551" width="980">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<span class="">
<div class=""><a href="http://www.scmp.com/author/contributor"><img src="http://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/70x70/public/default_images/author.png?itok=hDu29UdT" class="" alt="Contributor" title="Contributor" height="70" width="70"></a></div> </span>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<h2 class=""><div class=""><br></div></h2>
<div class="">
<div class="" id="mini-panel-share_widgets_article">
<div class="">
<div><div class="">
<div class="">
<div class=""><a class=""><span class=""></span></a>
<a class=""><span class=""></span></a>
<a class=""><span class=""></span></a>
<a class=""><span class=""></span></a>
<a class=""><span class=""></span></a>
<a class=""><span class=""></span></a></div> </div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<p><a style="display:block" class="" title="Comments" href="http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2007415/policies-needed-which-give-ethnic-minorities-level-playing-field#comments"><span class=""><span class="">1</span></span></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<span class=""><a href="http://www.scmp.com/print/comment/letters/article/2007415/policies-needed-which-give-ethnic-minorities-level-playing-field?cx_tag=recommend_desktop%23cxrecs_s" title="Display a printer-friendly version of this page." class="" rel="nofollow"></a></span><span class=""><br></span> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<p class="">Candidates have been campaigning vigorously for next month’s Legislative Council election.</p>
<p class="">At election forums, few candidates mention
ethnic minorities. Lawmakers have a duty to promote policies for the
betterment of all Hongkongers, including ethnic minority residents.
Perhaps few candidates are aware of ethnic minority issues, one of which
is the longstanding problem of the language barrier and difficulty
integrating into a predominantly Cantonese-speaking society. Legco
candidates should be aware of three important facts.</p><div style="border:0px none;vertical-align:bottom;display:inline-block;width:100%;height:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);max-height:400px;float:left;overflow:hidden;margin-right:100%;margin-bottom:0px" id="mrec-holder22"><div style="border:0px none;vertical-align:bottom;display:inline-block;width:100%;height:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);max-height:400px;float:left;overflow:hidden;margin-bottom:0px" id="advid-holder22"><div style="display:inline-block;width:100%;height:30px;font-size:12px;font-family:"LatoRegular",sans-serif;background-color:transparent;float:left;text-align:left;margin-top:20px"><div style="width:100%;height:30px"><p style="color:rgb(153,153,153);font-size:0.9em;display:inline-block;font-family:LatoRegular,sans-serif">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div></div><div style="border:0px none;vertical-align:bottom;display:block;width:100%;height:400px;background-color:transparent;max-height:400px;margin:0px auto;float:left;overflow:hidden" id="vid_ads_div_adsparc22"><div id="myadcontent22" style="float:left;height:399px;display:inline-block;width:620px;background-color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px auto"> <div id="closebtn22" style="display:block;width:30px;height:30px;background-color:transparent;float:right;text-align:center;margin-top:0px"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/sf.adsparc.com/native/img/close-btn-new.png"> </div></div></div></div></div>
<p class="">Firstly, ethnic minority students are local
students. The government often uses “local students” to refer to Chinese
students only. However, many ethnic minority children were born and
raised in Hong Kong. While this may seem like a petty quarrel on
semantics, the official discourse reveals much of the thinking of those
who formulate policies. By not referring to ethnic minorities as local
students, the government posits ethnic minorities as foreign and their
needs peripheral. This has led to policies that overlooked ethnic
minorities’ needs.</p>
<p class="">Secondly, English alone is not enough to survive in Hong Kong.</p>
<p class="">It’s a widely held belief that one doesn’t need
the Chinese language to succeed in Hong Kong if one has a good command
of English. With it being an international city and the fact that
English and Chinese are official languages means many people believe
fluency in written and spoken Chinese is optional as long as academic
grades are good. However, many employers assume all job applicants
understand, speak, and even read and write Chinese.</p>
<p class="">Unison research published in May found that if
one does not have Chinese language proficiency, one is limited to only
19 per cent of the 1,500 surveyed job ads. The level of Chinese taught
to ethnic minorities must be enhanced to increase their employability –
which brings us to the third fact.</p>
<p class="">A real “Chinese as a second language” policy is
urgently needed. The Education Bureau implemented the “Chinese as a
Second Language Learning Framework” in 2014, however, without learning
targets and objectives, guidelines on curriculum planning, and learning
and teaching strategies.</p>
<p class="">The lack of a real second language education
policy stalls social mobility for successive generations of ethnic
minorities – they cannot compete on an equal footing with Chinese or
participate meaningfully in society.</p>
<p class="">Ethnic minorities are Hongkongers too. On
September 4, they too will exercise their right and elect those who
listen to them and speak for them.</p>
<p class=""><span class=""><em>Phyllis Cheung, executive director, Hong Kong Unison</em></span></p>
</div>
</div><a href="http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2007415/policies-needed-which-give-ethnic-minorities-level-playing-field">http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2007415/policies-needed-which-give-ethnic-minorities-level-playing-field</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div>