Page 106 - Words

Society Wu Zi Tong, Judy 6D (2016-2017)

Many South Asians are stereotyped as ‘smelly’, ‘violent’ and ‘low class’, but
the locals will not show their contempt upfront. Instead they ignore the
presence of the ethnic minorities and avoid being in contact with them.
Due to misunderstanding and lack of contact, trouble arises and tension
rises.

We do not want the problems to perpetuate. We want to solve them,
and it requires everyone’s support.

We can lower the language barrier by establishing more community
centres targeting ethnic minorities and providing specific language
assistance. Not only is spoken and written Chinese taught, some etiquette,
values and common law can also be introduced to enhance the harmony
between races. As a result, ethnic minorities can gain competence in
Chinese and have a good understanding of Hong Kong society.

To tackle the problems of ethnic minorities not being able to enter
mainstream schools and of the Chinese curriculum being difficult, we
can optimize the current education system. Resources should be allocated
reasonably to schools, so that they can provide sufficient support for ethnic
minority students in schools. For instance, a special textbook can be used
and extra teaching time can be added. The government can provide extra
subsidies to schools that have ethnic minority students to better assist in
their studies in local schools.

As regards racial discrimination, we need to first hold talks in schools
to educate the pupils. School is a place where discrimination and bullying

106 With Pride, We Stride