Newsletter (2017-2018) May 2018 Newsletter | Page 10

Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong:
Where Are We?
By Ella May Ho
The divide between ethnic minorities and local
Chinese in Hong Kong has always been a prob-
lem in the city. More specifically, it is within the
education system that ethnic minorities are at a
disadvantage. For one, they struggle to learn Chi-
nese due to the lack of language support. There
is no proper benchmark in the Chinese curricu-
lum for non-Chinese students, because teachers
adopt non-standardised methods and content to
teach the language, resulting in lower Chinese
proficiency among ethnic minority students. The
level that they are being taught to is comparable
to that of Primary 2 or 3 students, even as they
are about to enter Secondary 6.
never studie