EDB criticized over minority group failures
2011-10-19
By Andrea Deng (HK Edition)
China Daily
A 12-year-old Indian prodigy and his mother criticized the Education Bureau (EDB) on Tuesday for failing to provide any assistance to the boy, seeking placement in a gifted development study program or school.
The boy and his mother contended he was left out of school for more than two years.
Arjun Singh, who was born in Hong Kong, had had difficulty commencing with Grade 1 at a local Chinese school.
He said he was constantly being ordered by teachers to stand outside the classroom, as punishment for asking too many questions.
His later primary school studies were suspended when he was in Grade 5, while attending an international school.
He was told that the school could not upgrade him, and that he should instead go to a gifted school.
Scoring 128 in intelligence quotient, Singh did not find it easy to enrol in secondary schools either.
He approached the Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School and took a form-three examination as recommended by the EDB, only to be told that he could not just jump to Form 3, without showing the results he scored.
But within three months after that, Singh took the IGCSE, or International General Certificate of Secondary Education, and got almost straight A's, demonstrating his capability to be educated at the university level.
Nevertheless, Singh has been out of school since January 2009 when he was only 10. In between, his mother asked for help from the EDB, but the EDB never found a school that offered gifted programs in English.
"For so many years, they (the EDB) never cared that there could be gifted children in the minority groups who have special needs to be satisfied," said Anita Singh, the boy's mother.
The EDB actually did offer choices for Singh, but those were either ordinary ethnic minority schools, or local schools demanding a capability with Chinese, which Singh could not meet.
"They don't understand our needs. Even when we told them that the school was not appropriate for me, they were still insisting on that school," Singh said.
The family was shocked to learn there was a list of schools offering gifted development programs for primary or secondary students, including some English-as-a-medium-of-instruction schools, which the EDB has never broached.
However, Singh is pursuing a university program at present, and preparing for A-Level examinations and the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and will apply to some Ivy League universities in the US, and the University of Hong Kong.
Fermi Wong Wai-fan, executive director of the Hong Kong Unison, who has been assisting Singh, said that once an EDB officer told her that he did not believe that Singh was a gifted child, and that "only his mother thought so".
Wong criticized the EDB for its "lack of care and concern", and its "insensitive attitude that harms the children of ethnic minority".
"They (minority groups) have lesser accessibility of information because they don't speak Cantonese, and so all they can do is to trust the EDB," Wong said.
The EDB said it is offering services and resources to the schools that educate gifted children, and provides suggestions to individual gifted students.
http://easss.com/edu/home
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Language issues plague outstanding ethnic minority students
Language issues plague outstanding minority students
2011-10-21
By Andrea Deng (HK Edition)
China Daily
Hong Kong's aspirations to become recognized as a focal point for top quality education may be impeded by the absence of effective measures regarding gifted students of ethnic minorities.
In 2010, the number of ethnic students enrolled in university degree programs in Hong Kong was zero, despite the fact that there were many bright and even gifted students from ethnic minorities.
The major issue is that many of these high-calibre students are unable to gain sufficient mastery over the Chinese language.
Thus, they are unable to advance scholastically.
Arjun Singh, the 12-year-old Indian prodigy, with an IQ of 129, who scored almost straight A's in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education, would not have been out of school for more than two years, if the Education Bureau (EDB) had referred him to one of the city's English schools that offer gifted programs.
"All I needed from the EDB was just the information on what kind of gifted schools are out there, and a recommendation letter from the EDB. I can take the assessment tests myself. The EDB could be more flexible," said Singh.
Fermi Wong Wai-fun, executive director of Hong Kong Unison, who has been assisting Singh, said she was once told by an EDB officer that Singh's case "is a very new case for the bureau - because Arjun is a member of an ethnic minority."
"We don't have the experience to handle the case," Wong quoted the officer.
The Indian boy is indeed a special case. Although there have been criticisms of the facilities for gifted students, local students can more or less obtain "enrichment classes" to pursue deeper levels of math or science, either at their own school or the courses provided by the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education. But nearly all are taught in Chinese.
James Lung Wai-man, an activist for minority children, said that there is no gifted program or facilities in the city's 20-odd ethnic minority schools. Meanwhile, only very few minority children attend local schools that supply enrichment classes.
At the crux of the issue, Lung noted, is the EDB's pedagogical fallacy that "if they (minority children) do not learn Chinese, they are seriously in trouble", because most universities require students to have Chinese capability through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System.
Most minority children fail to learn Chinese well. Their overall scholastic performance is overshadowed by bad grades in Chinese, no matter how well they do in other subjects.
Lung gave an example of a 9-year-old Nepalese boy who loves to write English essays. The boy used to send some of his writing to Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Chief Secretary for Administration Stephen Lam, when Lam was secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs.
But when the boy's father asked the class teacher to help advance the boy in his pursuits, the father was told that the boy should improve his Chinese because he'd been doing poorly in that subject.
"It's ridiculous that a child who is good at English writing is required to be good at Chinese," Lung said.
In Singh's case, he exhibits outstanding caliber in math and has a strong affection for physics, and it does not make much sense to require the boy to be capable of reading Chinese, not to mention that he is fully capable of handling English.
The result of that fallacy is that many minority children being buried by the inability to reading Chinese, Lung said.
"Ironically, there are Indian students who don't speak Chinese as well, but can be enrolled in Hong Kong's universities," Lung said.
http://easss.com/edu/home
2011-10-21
By Andrea Deng (HK Edition)
China Daily
Hong Kong's aspirations to become recognized as a focal point for top quality education may be impeded by the absence of effective measures regarding gifted students of ethnic minorities.
In 2010, the number of ethnic students enrolled in university degree programs in Hong Kong was zero, despite the fact that there were many bright and even gifted students from ethnic minorities.
The major issue is that many of these high-calibre students are unable to gain sufficient mastery over the Chinese language.
Thus, they are unable to advance scholastically.
Arjun Singh, the 12-year-old Indian prodigy, with an IQ of 129, who scored almost straight A's in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education, would not have been out of school for more than two years, if the Education Bureau (EDB) had referred him to one of the city's English schools that offer gifted programs.
"All I needed from the EDB was just the information on what kind of gifted schools are out there, and a recommendation letter from the EDB. I can take the assessment tests myself. The EDB could be more flexible," said Singh.
Fermi Wong Wai-fun, executive director of Hong Kong Unison, who has been assisting Singh, said she was once told by an EDB officer that Singh's case "is a very new case for the bureau - because Arjun is a member of an ethnic minority."
"We don't have the experience to handle the case," Wong quoted the officer.
The Indian boy is indeed a special case. Although there have been criticisms of the facilities for gifted students, local students can more or less obtain "enrichment classes" to pursue deeper levels of math or science, either at their own school or the courses provided by the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education. But nearly all are taught in Chinese.
James Lung Wai-man, an activist for minority children, said that there is no gifted program or facilities in the city's 20-odd ethnic minority schools. Meanwhile, only very few minority children attend local schools that supply enrichment classes.
At the crux of the issue, Lung noted, is the EDB's pedagogical fallacy that "if they (minority children) do not learn Chinese, they are seriously in trouble", because most universities require students to have Chinese capability through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System.
Most minority children fail to learn Chinese well. Their overall scholastic performance is overshadowed by bad grades in Chinese, no matter how well they do in other subjects.
Lung gave an example of a 9-year-old Nepalese boy who loves to write English essays. The boy used to send some of his writing to Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Chief Secretary for Administration Stephen Lam, when Lam was secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs.
But when the boy's father asked the class teacher to help advance the boy in his pursuits, the father was told that the boy should improve his Chinese because he'd been doing poorly in that subject.
"It's ridiculous that a child who is good at English writing is required to be good at Chinese," Lung said.
In Singh's case, he exhibits outstanding caliber in math and has a strong affection for physics, and it does not make much sense to require the boy to be capable of reading Chinese, not to mention that he is fully capable of handling English.
The result of that fallacy is that many minority children being buried by the inability to reading Chinese, Lung said.
"Ironically, there are Indian students who don't speak Chinese as well, but can be enrolled in Hong Kong's universities," Lung said.
http://easss.com/edu/home
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
淘點充值券7月中作廢 網民怕麻煩擬棄淘寶
淘點充值券7月中作廢 網民怕麻煩擬棄淘寶
明報
6/05/2012
【明報專訊】為淘寶網付款戶口提供充值服務的「淘點」，昨突然宣布全面停止為接近30萬會員提供充值服務，所有充值券最遲須於下月15日晚使用，否則會作廢。消息引起大量熱中於網上購物的巿民關注，有人更因失去此項增值途徑而打算放棄淘寶。消委會認為，有關商戶應為顧客提供足夠通知，以免有人錯失充值限期而造成損失。
「淘點」昨在網頁發出通知，指因政策變更及轉型，由下月16日午夜零時起，將全面停止「支付寶付款（即淘寶付款平台）」充值服務，該公司將重點發展物流服務。
http://ramsss.com/hk/auctions
據該通知，7-11及OK便利店將提早在7月8日早上7時起停售「淘點」增值券，所有已售充值券、東亞銀行或其他商戶迎新禮品、獎賞計劃獲贈的淘點充值券，須於7月15日晚上11時前使用，否則作廢。
須7月15晚11時前使用
阿里巴巴旗下的淘寶網香港發言人昨強調，「淘點」與阿里巴巴集團無關，該公司是獨立第三方付款公司。淘寶網正與多間銀行商討，盼可降低用信用卡為支付寶戶口充值時須付的手續費（現為3%），而早前中銀信用卡已推出1.5%的優惠充值手續費優惠。
稱轉為發展物流業務
本報昨無法透過「淘點」客戶服務熱線與該公司聯絡，而本報電郵查詢至昨晚截稿未有回應。
不少網民昨在網站親子王國、高登討論區及facebook對此議論紛紛，其中有網民質疑「應是淘寶加抽水價啦，無錢賺所以不玩」，亦有網友擔心其他充值公司會乘機加價。據網上資料，現時充值服務一般暗藏1％至3％收費。
消委會﹕勿一次過預繳太多
雖然淘寶「支付寶」可利用信用卡增值，但部分網民怕披露個人資料，一直倚賴可透過在便利店購買增值券的「淘點」增值，有人因失去了方便的充值途徑而打算不再淘寶。網民Jennifer留言﹕「用信用卡無安全感，如無其他安全途徑，又麻煩的話，就不『淘』了。」雖然「淘點」表明集中物流業務，但部分網友直指「淘點」不替人充值，將會失去淘寶送貨優勢。
消委會總幹事劉燕卿認為，無論商戶作什麼商業決定，須向受影響的消費者提供足夠的通知，以免他們錯失充值時間而造成損失。她又特別提醒消費者，網上購物要小心，勿一次過預繳太多款項，尤其以信用卡付款時，須保護個人資料。
明報
6/05/2012
【明報專訊】為淘寶網付款戶口提供充值服務的「淘點」，昨突然宣布全面停止為接近30萬會員提供充值服務，所有充值券最遲須於下月15日晚使用，否則會作廢。消息引起大量熱中於網上購物的巿民關注，有人更因失去此項增值途徑而打算放棄淘寶。消委會認為，有關商戶應為顧客提供足夠通知，以免有人錯失充值限期而造成損失。
「淘點」昨在網頁發出通知，指因政策變更及轉型，由下月16日午夜零時起，將全面停止「支付寶付款（即淘寶付款平台）」充值服務，該公司將重點發展物流服務。
http://ramsss.com/hk/auctions
據該通知，7-11及OK便利店將提早在7月8日早上7時起停售「淘點」增值券，所有已售充值券、東亞銀行或其他商戶迎新禮品、獎賞計劃獲贈的淘點充值券，須於7月15日晚上11時前使用，否則作廢。
須7月15晚11時前使用
阿里巴巴旗下的淘寶網香港發言人昨強調，「淘點」與阿里巴巴集團無關，該公司是獨立第三方付款公司。淘寶網正與多間銀行商討，盼可降低用信用卡為支付寶戶口充值時須付的手續費（現為3%），而早前中銀信用卡已推出1.5%的優惠充值手續費優惠。
稱轉為發展物流業務
本報昨無法透過「淘點」客戶服務熱線與該公司聯絡，而本報電郵查詢至昨晚截稿未有回應。
不少網民昨在網站親子王國、高登討論區及facebook對此議論紛紛，其中有網民質疑「應是淘寶加抽水價啦，無錢賺所以不玩」，亦有網友擔心其他充值公司會乘機加價。據網上資料，現時充值服務一般暗藏1％至3％收費。
消委會﹕勿一次過預繳太多
雖然淘寶「支付寶」可利用信用卡增值，但部分網民怕披露個人資料，一直倚賴可透過在便利店購買增值券的「淘點」增值，有人因失去了方便的充值途徑而打算不再淘寶。網民Jennifer留言﹕「用信用卡無安全感，如無其他安全途徑，又麻煩的話，就不『淘』了。」雖然「淘點」表明集中物流業務，但部分網友直指「淘點」不替人充值，將會失去淘寶送貨優勢。
消委會總幹事劉燕卿認為，無論商戶作什麼商業決定，須向受影響的消費者提供足夠的通知，以免他們錯失充值時間而造成損失。她又特別提醒消費者，網上購物要小心，勿一次過預繳太多款項，尤其以信用卡付款時，須保護個人資料。
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