Give ethnic minorities a chance to contribute more

The recent data and analysis shared by the government via its “Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report on Ethnic Minorities 2016”, confirms our worst fears: First, the rate of ethnic minorities living below the poverty line had risen from 15.8 percent in 2011 to 19.4 percent in 2016.

Second, in 2016, before the government’s policy intervention, there were 22,400 poor ethnic minority households and 49,400 poor people from ethnic minorities, with a poverty rate of 19.4 percent.

Third, per the 2016 population by-census, there were about 264,000 ethnic minority individuals in Hong Kong, excluding foreign domestic helpers, making up about 3.6 percent of the local population.

Fourth, although 39.3 percent of the “poor” ethnic minorities were born in Hong Kong, yet some 74.5 percent of them were “economically inactive”.

Fifth, an examination of the causes of working poverty among ethnic minorities in 2016 showed that lower employment earnings due to lower educational attainment and skill levels of employed people were major causes of working poverty.

All these data and analyses merely reiterate and reinforce the very well-known fact that the local schooling system, which favors only those who speak Cantonese as their mother tongue, is the bane of the less privileged, non-Chinese population in Hong Kong. Given such challenging circumstances and an unfavorable education system, it is easy to understand that a child’s poor academic performance and progressive inability to deal with the school curriculum restricts his or her ability to finish schooling. Thereafter — their life’s journey is set in stone. They face either a lifetime of total unemployment or employment restricted to low paying menial jobs. This is a generational curse, which condemns them to a life of despondency and poverty.

Long term, this situation is bound to dent the progress and stability of Hong Kong’s social fabric. If a growing section of the population (excluding foreign domestic helpers, the amount of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong increased by about 70 percent from 2006 to 2016) faces never ending unemployment and poverty, it is only human for them to feel frustration, angst and anger toward the government and society. That, this gradually leads to an increased crime rate and a volatile social environment — is a phenomenon that has afflicted many other societies. On the flip side, Hong Kong’s society is being deprived of an invaluable pool of potentially skilled and educated workers. A wealthy economy like Hong Kong can afford to extend policy intervention measures and social assistance in the form of cash benefits to the poverty-stricken section of the society. But these are reactive and temporary fixes and a drain on public resources.

The more effective remedial measures for the Hong Kong government to consider should include:

First, smartly investing its finances, time and effort toward rationalizing and correcting its flawed education system. This change is long overdue.

Hong Kong has the ability to stem and reverse the disturbing trend of poverty and unemployment among ethnic minorities.

In this day and age, an education system which is completely loaded in favor of those who speak Cantonese as a mother language is not practical. By some accounts, even many native Hong Kong Chinese children find it extremely challenging to deal with the Chinese language curriculum in the senior years of school. This then begs the questions: How are non-Chinese children expected to cope? What purpose does such an education system serve?

Second, making its schools accountable for the academic progress and prowess (or lack thereof) of their ethnic minority students. To enjoy the routine government funding and subsidies, the schools must take complete responsibility for the educational development of the ethnic minority students or risk losing their funding.

Third, the government has generously and significantly increased the additional funding to schools to about HK$200 million a year starting from the 2014-15 school year. This is to facilitate schools’ implementation of the “Learning Framework” and creation of an inclusive learning environment. Starting from the 2014-15 school year, schools admitting 10 or more non-Chinese speaking students are provided with an additional funding ranging from HK$0.8 million to HK$1.5 million per annum depending on the number of non-Chinese speaking students admitted. That said, the government’s long-term eligibility criteria for such schools must not merely be the number of non-Chinese speaking students they have on their rolls. They must continue to fund only those schools that are able to demonstrate a tangible improvement in the academic results of their non-Chinese speaking students, and also their ability to cope with the language. While the schools are being empowered with greater financial muscle, they simply have to be accountable; they must take ownership of their moral and social responsibilities as well.

Hong Kong has the ability to stem and reverse the disturbing trend of poverty and unemployment among ethnic minorities. But it takes the political will and far-sightedness of an enlightened administration to do so.