Ricky Chu Man-kin

Opinion | Hong Kong kindergartens must do more to accept and integrate ethnic minority children

To stop Chinese-medium kindergartens from rejecting non-Chinese children or segregating them, government guidelines must be strictly monitored and teachers given more resources to manage mixed classes

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Children at a kindergarten in Tuen Mun on Febreuary 22. Learning from schools that have successful immersive environments should give teachers the confidence to nurture children of all backgrounds. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Ricky Chu Man-kin

Published: 6:45am, 20 Nov 2021Updated: 9:26am, 21 Nov 2021

It’s that time of the year again when parents of two-year-olds, having submitted their applications for kindergarten places next year, begin the anxious wait for results.

As educator Maria Montessori said: “Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society.” Or as Bill Gates said: “The first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out.”

In Hong Kong, the competition for opportunities begins early, with getting into the kindergarten of choice being the first step. While all Hong Kong parents face largely the same process, we are frequently made aware of how much harder it is for the underprivileged among non-Chinese communities.

In the past few years, there has been a growing awareness among non-Chinese parents of the importance of learning Chinese and they are keen to give their children an early start by getting them into Chinese-medium kindergartens.

This can be attributed to their own experiences of hardship during education and in finding employment owing to language barriers.

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The Education Bureau has taken significant steps in the past two years to improve access to information for non-Chinese parents and to strengthen its guidelines for kindergartens, to provide support for non-Chinese students and parents. This includes language support during admission interviews.