Support for ethnic minorities pledged
January 15, 2014
The Government will strengthen education support and employment services for ethnic minorities, Chief Executive CY Leung said today.
Delivering his 2014 Policy Address, Mr Leung said ethnic minorities have difficulty integrating fully into the community, and pledged to bolster support for them to learn Chinese starting from early childhood education through to primary and secondary levels.
It will also enhance school-based support services for kindergartens admitting ethnic minority children, and will implement a Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework from the 2014-15 school year, with supporting learning and teaching materials and assessment tools for use in primary and secondary schools.
Mr Leung said annual funds of about $200 million will be provided from the 2014-15 school year to improve ethnic minority students' Chinese foundation at junior primary levels, to facilitate their entry into mainstream Chinese language classes.
The Government will also offer school-based professional support and in-service professional development programmes to enhance schools’ and teachers’ professional capability in teaching Chinese as a second language, he said.
An applied learning Chinese-language subject for ethnic minority students will be provided in stages at senior secondary levels from the 2014-15 school year. The Government is also developing Vocational Chinese Language courses for ethnic minority school leavers to enhance their employability.
Mr Leung said the Government supports the employment of ethnic minorities in all sectors, and will review and adjust language-proficiency requirements so long as the functioning of grades are not affected, to ensure equal access to job opportunities in the Government.
