Your Voice: Hong Kong’s SEN gap, AI in schools (long letters)

With Hong Kong’s growing advancements, the urgent need for accessible special educational needs (SEN) resources for all nationalities, including ethnic minority families, has become increasingly apparent. However, the current situation leaves these families without the necessary support.

Consider the plight of children with delayed language development. They already struggle to craft sentences in English or their native tongue. Placing them in local SEN schools where the language of instruction is Chinese only makes their lives more difficult and hinders their progress.

Because of what we call a “linguistic mismatch,” vulnerable populations of students with special needs do not benefit from the city’s public services. The language of instruction and communication in Hong Kong’s public services does not align with the developmental needs of children from ethnic minority groups, further widening the gap in access to SEN resources.

I spoke to a Filipino mother of a 10-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder about the difficulties in accessing public services. “It starts with the diagnosis. Most families unable to access private clinics or psychiatrists turn to public hospitals. Unfortunately, the wait list can be as long as a year,” she said.

Hong Kong’s next generation of ethnic minority lawyers is beating stereotypes

“Then, when it comes to schooling, there’s the issue of language barriers. When receiving report cards, I often have to ask my eldest son to translate some of the documents. Additionally, private therapy sessions can be quite pricey,” she added.

A 2022 study led by Dr Kim Kwok from City University Hong Kong offered tips for addressing these disparities, including broader usage of English in government-subsidised SEN training. More financial support for private SEN therapy and funding for community education are also needed to increase awareness of special needs and rights among ethnic minority communities.

Non-governmental organisations such as Kriti Children’s Centre and the Zubin Family Centre offer free or low-cost SEN services for ethnic minority families.

Still, there is a deficit of available and low-cost resources, and there is a need to expand services to all ethnic minority children with special needs.

Other parents shared their struggles in finding appropriate support groups where they could fit in and find community.

This underscores the pressing need to raise awareness of the lack of equity and support for these families in Hong Kong, as well as the collective responsibility to address this issue.

Jakin Chui Kai-ching, Carmel Secondary School

How would you feel if you saw an essay written by the top student on the board, full of advanced vocabulary and complex sentences?

You might admire your classmate for mastering the language so well. But what if you found out that the essay was generated by artificial intelligence (AI)? It is hard to believe someone could fool teachers and classmates for so long, but the increasing use of AI in schools, enabled by the bring-your-own-device policy, raises this concern.

AI has the potential to elevate our writing skills, turning a good essay into a great one. This promising aspect of AI might seem like a dream tool for students, offering a new horizon of possibilities.

But what is the cost of relying on AI? First, it is dishonest and unfair to others who work hard on their assignments. It is no different from copying someone else’s work. What is more important, your grade or your integrity?

Over-reliance on AI stops us from thinking and learning. Instead of analysing prompts, students let AI do the work, which weakens their skills. This will be a problem during exams when AI isn’t allowed. Creativity also suffers because students aren’t challenging their minds, which is essential for growth.

The impact of AI extends beyond the individual – it poses a significant threat to society. Imagine a world where newspapers are entirely written by AI. Would you trust them? As people increasingly rely on AI, we risk seeing more AI-generated content online, blurring the line between fact and fiction.

The internet is already rife with misinformation, and AI has the potential to exacerbate this issue. We could be heading towards a future where human-created content is drowned out by AI, leaving us with an internet filled with fake information.

By learning from AI, using it to enhance our skills, and not relying on it to do the work, we can harness its advantages without losing our humanity. We are at a pivotal moment, and it is up to us to decide whether we allow AI to lead us into a future filled with deception, or use it responsibly to build a more educated society.