Language and culture classes to help EMs integrate
A group advocating for racial equality on Thursday called on the government to offer language and cultural courses to Nepalese parents and youths to help them integrate into Hong Kong society and prepare them with skills for better employment opportunities.  A survey by Hong Kong Unison found that one in five Nepalese youths had been sent back to Nepal by their parents for reasons including family problems, forced marriage and drug abuse.  John Tse, executive director of the organisation, said authorities need to boost education measures to help local Nepalese youths. "They should really put their top priority in the field of education, particularly in the learning of Chinese so that if Nepalese students are doing well in school, hopefully they would be successful in their academic career and then have some sort of social mobility," he said. "Currently, unfortunately, because of the language barrier and the lack of education, many of them can't finish secondary school. Even if they can finish secondary school, they would end up finding a really low-level kind of job which is not really good for them in the long run." A total of 268 adolescents and young adults were interviewed, with almost half saying their biggest concern was the language barrier and the lack of educational support. Limbu Eliza, a Nepalese youth who was born and raised in Hong Kong, said she personally struggled with discrimination and learning Cantonese growing up, which made schooling and finding a job very difficult.  "Most companies don't hire our ethnic minority (EM) people. Whenever they see you are EM people, [they] don't want to hire you. They will just reject you immediately. No need for interview, you can just go, which is I think unfair for us," she said. "Some of them, even though they know Cantonese, but [companies] judge us by our colour, our face, our culture, and that is why they will always reject us. I think that is the most difficult thing [about] finding a job in Hong Kong." The organisation also recommended special programmes tailored to Nepalese individuals to combat drug abuse, after the survey noted 70 percent of youth found drug abuse to be a significant problem.