Overcoming the Obstacles

After three minority students were interviewed, it is surprising that none of our interviewees felt that they have been discriminated. Moaz held the belief that, although he did not know how to speak Chinese, he is still positive on his future career path.

[1]Yet, the survey result conducted by Caritas Community Centre was on the contrast with what the interviewees think of. The result showed that more than 40% minority respondents have been discriminated, including in workplace, school or government department. [2]Like stated in a study on Racial Encounters and Discrimination Experienced by South Asians in 2012, though local believed that they have stayed harmonious with minorities, yet they have still be discriminated like they have been unfairly treated or are not employed even though some of them know Chinese. And on the education, it had no problems when the local and minorities students play or work together. Yet, the minorities still have difficulties on learning Chinese.

(A Video depicting the difficulities encountered by the ethnic minorities in educatoin)

Based on the problems the minorities faced on employment and education, the essay is going to analysis some feasible and viable solutions for riding out the discrimination.

Before suggesting solutions on solving problems, there are some important backgrounds that we cannot ignore with. [3]According to a Survey on Working Conditions of South Asians in Hong Kong in 2010, only 20% interviewees have sought help from government departments or NGOs. Except those 20%, the remaining have never sought help for the reason that they do not meet difficulties or they chose to face it themselves.[4] Yet, some of them have reported that they actually did not know the assistance provided by the government and NGOs or where and who they can find for the assistance (Caritas Community Centre, 2008). The law, Race Discrimination Bill and Minimum Wage Bill were also knew by 50% of respondents, reflecting that the function of the laws and assistance could not be fully carried out without theirs widespread among the minorities.

Suggestions are, therefore, made. As there are actually quite a number of assistance provided by community centers or government, while the minorities do not know their existence. Government should bear the greatest responsibility. It needs to pay more efforts on promoting its policies and assistance to minorities and help them overcome the language barrier like providing the versions of different languages of its official website. In addition, the government should first employ minorities as civil servants, acting as a model for supporting the employment of minorities. And its departments should also treat minorities fairly, says for example that, there is a case of a South Asian being reviled by a policemen with foul language on street before.

Moreover, NGOs also should employ minorities, and act as a bridge of them and the public. Activities or programs should also be carried out to deepen the understanding of the public to minorities. Last but not least, more university or organizations can be invited to do more studies and reports, drawing the public awareness on the issue.

[5]On education, the Education Bureau is going to provide a brand new “Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework” for non-Chinese speaking students from the 2014/15 school year. It is hoped that, the curriculum can help the NCS students progressively learn Chinese, but not only set up a program with easier standard. Teachers should adjust their curriculum according to the need of the students, with the help of the assessment tools and relevant teaching materials, a fair learning Chinese opportunities could be given to both local and NCS students. Applied Learning (Chinese) subject would be provided to senior NCS students as an alternative qualification as well. In order to coordinate with the implement of the new curriculum, resources would be given to the school, helping them to adapt suitable teaching and learning materials or courses for NCS students. And subsidies are provided to the teachers’ professional development. Teachers are provided an enhanced training course of teaching Chinese as second language and the understanding of the course and assessment tools.

Through the curriculum, it seems that the education Bureau have determined to help the NCS students learning Chinese effectively. Yet, the effectiveness of the curriculum largely depends on how the teachers adjust the course to fulfill the need of the students. If it cannot target the NCS students’ weakness accurately, the new curriculum would be useless, with no differences as the previous one. [6]Or may the policy implemented by Singapore government can be a reference of Hong Kong. Chinese as one of the four official languages in Singapore, students need to learn English first, and then their mother tongue. “Chinese special Programme” is opened in secondary school for students whose mother tongue is Chinese. 20% -30% of the curriculum are flexible, using to look after the need of different students while 70-80% of it is compulsory course. Its flexibility can help different students tackle their problems on learning, which is a successful example for Hong Kong government as a reference.

Though providing sufficient assistance is necessary, it is more important that the needy have way to access and the help can fulfill their need. Otherwise, even more resources are put, it will still be useless.

[1] Caritas Community Centre-Kowloon. "種族歧視問卷調查 報告撮要(Survey on Racial Discrimination)." Http://klncc.caritas.org.hk/private/document/475.pdf. 2008. Accessed April 4, 2015. http://klncc.caritas.org.hk/private/document/475.pdf.

[2] Centre for Civil Society and Governance; The University of Hong Kong; Policy

21 Limited. “Study on Racial Encounters and Discrimination Experienced by South Asians”, 2012. 8-14.

[3] Caritas Community Centre-Kowloon. "Survey on Working Conditions of South Asians in Hong Kong." July 1, 2010. Accessed April 6, 2015. http://klncc.caritas.org.hk/private/document/633.pdf. 13.

[4] Caritas Community Centre-Kowloon. "種族歧視問卷調查 報告撮要(Survey on Racial Discrimination)." Http://klncc.caritas.org.hk/private/document/475.pdf. 2008. Accessed April 4, 2015. http://klncc.caritas.org.hk/private/document/475.pdf.

[5] Education Bureau. “Enhanced Chinese Learning and Teaching for Non-Chinese Speaking Students”. Education Bureau Circular No.8 (2014).1-5.

[6] The Curriculum Development Council. "Consultation Paper on Developing A Supplementary Guide to the Chinese Language Curriculum for Non-Chinese Students." 2008. Accessed April 6, 2015. http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/about-edb/press/consultation/devt_of_sg_to_chi_ncs_e.pdf. 15-16.