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E-news Issue 284

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Only half of Hong Kong kindergartens find resources sufficient to support non-Chinese-speaking students, study shows

Only half of Hong Kong kindergartens find resources sufficient to support non-Chinese-speaking students, study shows

Slightly more than half (57.1%) of Hong Kong kindergartens believe they have sufficient resources to support non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) students, according to a recent study funded by the EOC and jointly conducted by the School of Education and Languages of Hong Kong Metropolitan University and the Hong Kong Child-rity Association.

The research, titled “Admitting Ethnic Minority Kindergarteners: Overcoming Challenges and Identifying Opportunities”, sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the five-tiered subsidy introduced by the Government in the 2019-20 academic year, which provides different levels of subsidy for kindergartens under the Kindergarten Education Scheme according to the number of NCS students they have.

Out of the 161 kindergartens interviewed, 107 indicated that they had NCS students. Among them, about half (49.5%) agreed they had admitted more NCS students because of the boost in financial backing.

As for the 46 kindergartens without any NCS students, the majority (67.4%) said they had not received any applications from NCS students. Notably, three kindergartens said they would not consider admitting NCS students; two were even unaware of the subsidy scheme.

A major obstacle, as many kindergartens reflected, is the lack of manpower and experience in educating NCS students. The research report therefore recommended that assistance other than financial subsidy should be given, specifically to help kindergartens develop a support network with other kindergartens, schools, social service organisations and businesses so that community resources could be better utilised. The Government could also provide more pedagogical resources through electronic means to allow wider access to reference materials.

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