Breaking the Law!

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It is the law in Hong Kong that both Chinese and English are official languages.

The reality is that in some of our schools there is blatant discrimination against those who are struggling to speak and write in Chinese.

A young woman recently shared her story of her battle against racial discrimination in one of our schools.  I simply had to share it here, since it is a powerful illustration of why ethnic minorities in Hong Kong need our help.

Kamila is a well educated and articulate woman who speaks impeccable English. Her husband is a primary school teacher.  They had no trouble dealing with government departments when they arrived because the information was available in English. Their Chinese will undoubtedly improve as time passes.

The problems began when they sent their son, Daian, to a mainstream school because they could see that their friends’ children had limited career choices after attending Hong Kong’s `designated’ schools.  With quiet dignity Kamila related her personal struggle:

We chose the best school we could find in our area – a ‘Band One’ school. But my battle started when I became involved in Daian’s schooling.

At parent teacher meetings, my appeals for English translation were simply ignored. It was as if I was invisible.  All of the communications my son brought home were in Chinese. I wondered what opportunities he was missing out on because of my inability to read and understand the language. It wasn’t long before he began to under perform academically.  I started badgering the school about additional assistance for him, but was constantly stymied and told that the services were not available. Later I was asked when I would be removing Daian from the school, this was followed up by several phone calls asking the same question. This intensified when Daian was promoted to Primary Two.

Finally I approached the Education Bureau for assistance. I was assigned a case officer who accompanied me to the school. Once she appeared on the scene, the school became very accommodating. They told her that there had been a misunderstanding and that there was indeed assistance available for my son. I was gob-smacked!  Rather than argue my point, I decided to let the matter go as my son’s education is more important.

Kamila's story demonstrates the type of battles ethnic minorities face on a daily basis. The government is doing a good job of legislating and financing schools and programmes, but it is ultimately people - in this case the staff at Daian’s school - who determine whether those investments are properly applied in order to achieve the intended outcomes.  And that is why Christian Action provides a wide range of services to help ethnic minorities.  Thank you for standing with us and praying for our work.