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Education
Hong KongSociety

We must act soon or generations of Hong Kong children will be raised in poverty, warns head of city’s social service council

  • Intergenerational threat to city’s children if government does not combat issues that have made 1.37 million people destitute
  • Children are going hungry as families struggle to make ends meet

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The cost of housing, be it private flats or subdivided rooms, puts families at the lower end of society under pressure. Photo: Sam Tsang
Kanis LeungandMary Ann Benitez

Hong Kong risks raising generations of children in poverty if the government does not act soon, a social services advocate said on Tuesday.

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Chua Hoi-wai, the head of Hong Kong Council of Social Service, was commenting after a report released on Monday revealed more than 1.37 million people in the city live below the poverty line, with 17.5 per cent of Hong Kong’s children among that number despite government intervention.

For Chua, the financial pressures placed on families at the lower end of society translates into an impact on a child’s education, which if left unchecked would lead to poverty for generations to come.

A man sleeps on the roof of an old building in Sham Shui Po. Photo: Sam Tsang
A man sleeps on the roof of an old building in Sham Shui Po. Photo: Sam Tsang

The council boss believes families living in private flats, or subdivided units, struggle with high rents, which in turn affects their children’s needs when it comes to learning and living.

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“The expenditure on education is very high now,” he said. “If we do not give more support in this area, it is worrying to see the children lose at the starting line.”

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