[lg policy] Hong Kong: Reform call as students stumble at language bar

[Harold Schiffman]

*Reform call as students stumble at language bar *

Ashley Wu

*Monday, July 29, 2013*

Concern groups are calling for education policy reform to allow children
from ethnic minorities to learn Chinese as a second language.

The call comes from Hong Kong Unison, an organization advocating policy
reform geared toward ethnic minority residents, and lawmaker Fernando
Cheung Chiu-hung. They say the current policy fails to offer equal
opportunities.

Unison executive director Fermi Wong Wai-fun said there is a lack of a
Chinese-speaking environment in the 31 designated schools for ethnic
minorities.

"In eight of those schools, more than 90 percent of students are from
ethnic minorities, thereby causing racial segregation," she told City Forum.

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 Wong said the curriculum of these schools is designed for the General
Certificate of Secondary Education (Chinese) examination where grade A* is
roughly equal to Primary 2 level, which is not helpful while seeking jobs.

Cheung, also a social worker, pointed to discrimination in the education
system, where the well-off can send their children to international schools
that require students to master either Chinese or English plus another
language.

"It is like a glass ceiling the ethnic minorities can never surmount," he
said. Delia Memorial School principal Chan Kui-pui said mainstream schools
should deal with the Chinese-language discrepancy and foster ethnic
integration.

One parent, Tahir Khan, said the Chinese curriculum of a mainstream
secondary school proved "mission impossible" for his 15-year-old daughter.

"I invested a lot on tutors but we failed, and the struggle to catch up
seriously affected her other studies," he said. "She switched to a special
Chinese curriculum, yet the school has no idea what to do next."

Wong said the bureau should implement a "Chinese as a second language"
policy to provide another exam paper for non-native speakers.

Meanwhile, a Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong survey found more than 50 percent of
ethnic minority secondary students feel they are treated differently
because of their race.

Also, of 390 students polled from December to March, more than 40 percent
said they had little or no confidence in dealing with racial discrimination
in workplaces and schools.

The Chinese YMCA urged employers to actively create a diversified
workplace.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=135969&sid=40020187&con_type=1&d_str=20130729&fc=10


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