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Following is a question by Hon Emily Lau and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (October 16):
Question:
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) held a hearing on September 26 and 27 this year in Geneva to consider the report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the SAR Government). I have learnt that the Committee was concerned about the situation of underprivileged children in Hong Kong, in particular, their being deprived of the right to receive education on the basis of equal opportunity as stipulated in Article 28 of the Convention; the Committee was also concerned about the problems encountered by children with disabilities, children of ethnic minorities and children in poverty, and it did not understand why the SAR Government, which has hoarded enormous resources, failed to enable these underprivileged children to enjoy equal right of education, rendering them lagging behind at the starting line. According to the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2012 released on September 28 this year, the number of poor children aged zero to 17 in 2012 was 253 600. However, owing to the limitations of the survey design, the Report was unable to provide the number of poor children and their poverty situation in individual underprivileged groups, e.g. ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) when the authorities will conduct a detailed topical statistical survey, so as to grasp the number of different groups of underprivileged children (including children with disabilities, children of ethnic minorities and other groups of children) and their poverty situation;
(b) of the authorities' new plans, funding proposals and arrangements to ensure equal opportunities for these children to receive education, so that their chances of pursuing studies and securing employment will not be affected; and
(c) whether they will take on board the Committee's recommendation to set up an inter-departmental Commission on Children with concrete powers to monitor and promote the implementation of the Convention?
Reply:
President,
My reply to Hon Emily Lau's question is as follows:
(a) To gain more in-depth knowledge of the population of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) will conduct a special survey next year on ethnic minorities to collect more information on the characteristics of these households and to identify factors which may affect their earning capabilities. As for persons with disabilities, C&SD is currently conducting a special survey to gather data on the household income and other information of families comprising members with disabilities.
(b) In accordance with Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on children's right to education, we provide equal opportunities for all children in Hong Kong to receive education, including ethnic minority children and children with disabilities.
In respect of children of ethnic minorities, the Education Bureau (EDB) has all along been encouraging the early integration of such children into the community. To remove the label of the so-called "designated schools", enhance non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students' learning effectiveness of the Chinese Language and widen NCS parents' school choices, EDB has revised the mode of support to schools. In the 2013/14 school year, EDB will provide subsidies to all public sector schools and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools admitting 10 or more NCS students. Schools will adopt the "Chinese Language Assessment Tools" to set appropriate learning targets for their NCS students with a view to helping them master the Chinese Language in a progressive manner and obtain different Chinese qualifications. EDB will consider the development of a more systematic Chinese Language curriculum framework and the launch of a subsidy scheme designed to enhance the professional capability of Chinese Language teachers in teaching Chinese as a second language.
For children with disabilities, the Disability Discrimination Ordinance ensures the rights of children with special education needs (SEN) to have equal opportunity in accessing education. The Code of Practice on Education provides schools with practical guidance on making provision for students with SEN. Currently, a dual track mode is adopted to cater for students with SEN. Students with more severe and/or multiple disabilities are, subject to parental consent, placed in special schools, while other students with SEN will receive education in ordinary schools. All students, including those with SEN, can enjoy free 12-year education under the same curriculum framework.
EDB has, from the 2013/14 school year onwards, raised the ceiling of the Learning Support Grant from $1 million to $1.5 million per annum for each ordinary school to support SEN students. EDB has also provided a one-off grant in March this year for special schools to procure assistive technology devices. We are also expanding progressively the school-based educational psychology service with a view to covering all public sector primary and secondary schools by the 2016/17 school year, and will continue to provide structured teacher training programmes.
In respect of the provision of pre-school rehabilitation services to children with disabilities from birth to six years old, the Government aims to enhance their physical, psychological and social developments, thereby improving their opportunities for participating in ordinary schools and daily life activities and helping their families meet their special needs. Over the past six years, funding to provide additional places for pre-school rehabilitation services has increased by 30%. The Community Care Fund has launched an assistance programme to provide training subsidy for pre-school children from low-income families who are in need of rehabilitation services. The ceiling of subsidy under the programme has been increased and the Social Welfare Department is considering incorporation of the programme into its regular subvented services.
(c) Matters concerning the well-being of children involve various policy areas. When formulating policies related to children, policy bureaux will co-ordinate among themselves and seek views from the relevant advisory bodies. In any case, the "best interests of the child" is of paramount concern for bureaux in determining policies related to children.
We firmly believe that children are best protected and nurtured within a loving family. Since its establishment in 2007, the Family Council has been striving to advocate the importance of family concept and promote the use of family core values as the driving force for enhancing social harmony. Since April 1 this year, policy bureaux are required to include family perspectives when formulating policies for different age and gender sectors (including children) and consider whether the policies would affect families.
As regards the Children's Rights Forum, it was established in 2005 to strengthen communication among the Government, non-governmental organisations and children on children's affairs. We will continue to strengthen collaboration between the Family Council and the Children's Rights Forum to listen to children's views in the process of assessing family implications of different policy initiatives.
To sum up, we consider that the current arrangement in handling children's affairs is functioning well. It provides us with the flexibility to address the concerns of various sectors on children matters and is in line with the policy objective of strengthening the role of family. There is no imminent need to establish a Commission on Children.
Ends/Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 13:03
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