Your Voice: Hong Kong faces population and English proficiency challenges (short letters)

Hong Kong is currently grappling with a critical social challenge: the escalating impact of an ageing population, a labour shortage and a low labour force participation rate.

Let’s delve into these challenges and how the government can craft solutions.

In Hong Kong, many companies typically require employees to retire between the ages of 60 and 65. Meanwhile, the elderly population is growing, resulting in a dwindling workforce.

One solution is for the government to introduce an anti-age discrimination law. By allowing seniors to work beyond 65, they can sustain themselves financially. This can significantly alleviate the economic burden on the government. Furthermore, this would reduce the dependency of the elderly on their children, enabling the younger generation to focus on their own careers, ultimately boosting the workforce.

Another suggestion is for the government to create job opportunities while offering training.

Offering clerical roles that are less physically demanding can be beneficial. The government could use seniors as assistants in workshops organised by governmental bodies.

Lily Chan Yuen-lee, Pope Paul VI College

The decline in Hong Kong students’ English proficiency is more than just a statistic; it is a significant setback for a generation that encountered unparalleled challenges during the pandemic.

The shift to online education has erected obstacles many students were unprepared to overcome. The absence of interactive learning experiences, crucial for language acquisition, has left numerous students needing help to engage with the English language effectively. Moreover, social distancing limited opportunities for students to practise their language skills in real-world settings. English proficiency is crucial for Hong Kong’s future as a global city. As our students lag, so does the city’s competitive edge in a globalised economy.

I urge the government, educators and parents to collaborate on developing targeted interventions to assist students in regaining their ground in English language learning.

This could involve improved tutoring programmes, immersive language experiences, and increased access to resources encouraging language use in everyday scenarios.

Covid-19 toll: Hong Kong students’ English proficiency hits 20-year low

Sarah Chim Lai-ying, Leung Shek Chee College

According to the latest “World Population Prospects 2024” report by the United Nations, the global population will peak at 10.3 billion in 2080.

Food shortage and climate change problems become increasingly severe as the population grows. Eating insects may become one of the available ways to relieve these problems.

Insects contain many nutrients that humans need. For example, mealworms are insect protein for human consumption, comprising around 50 per cent protein, 25 per cent fat and 2 per cent carbohydrates.

Therefore, eating insects can help diminish the severe undernourishment and food insecurity problems in less developed countries.

Compared with rearing livestock such as cattle, insect farming requires fewer resources. Also, insects produce fewer greenhouse gases. Therefore, eating insects is a sustainable practice.

Although the stereotype of insects as “dirty” is deeply ingrained, the benefits of eating insects cannot be ignored.

I hope safe insect-containing food products will occupy a place in future markets and become a healthy and sustainable choice for consumers.

Fung Sz-hei, St Catharine’s School for Girls

In today’s world, a vast amount of news is disseminated through social media, while fewer people turn to traditional news outlets.

However, can we truly rely on the news shared on social media? The answer is no.

Since individuals can freely post anything on social platforms, the integrity of news items becomes questionable.

For instance, in 2016, nearly a million tweets circulated on Twitter under the term “pizzagate”, alleging that a Washington pizza shop was involved in a child trafficking ring.

This misinformation tragically led to an incident where a man, believing the false claims, travelled a great distance to the restaurant with a firearm and opened fire, as reported by the BBC.

Some may argue that such cases are exceptions and that social media posts are typically fact-checked.

However, not all news on social media undergoes fact-checking; even if it does, spreading fake news can outpace corrections.

These instances underscore the inherent unreliability of social media news, indicating that it cannot be trusted.