The Unsung Heroes of Hong Kong (Pt.2)

Today, I want to share my experience working at a tutorial centre in Hong Kong called IBEC (Short for Integrated Brilliant Education Center, a tutorial center opened by IBEL). Not only have I been able to offer academic support for ethnic minority kids, but tutoring here has elevated my life in ways I never imagined. I’ve made friends with kids here that I never thought I would, and now I’m famously known as the scary teacher who diligently (I added this adverb myself) forces each kid to finish their work promptly.

Why (Pt.1)

There are two ways to answer this. Why I started working with ethnic minority kids, and why they are the unsung heroes of Hong Kong.

Firstly, I already alluded to my initial purpose in my documentation of my EPQ, but I was indeed referred by friends from other schools to try out tutoring at IBEC. I simply treated the experience as a one-off occasion to help tutor some local students.

As I exited the lift, I knew it was going to be a loooong day: To my left sat 5 mums along the narrow stairwell, waiting to pick their kids up after class. To my right was a 400-square meter space divided into 3 rooms with 3 teachers, 4 other volunteers and 20+ kids. Difficulty to imagine how one can fit in there? Yeah, I thought so too.

When I first contacted the founder, Mr. Manoj Dhar about my interest in volunteering, he was hesitant and invited me to visit the site first before deciding. As I took a good look at the classrooms, I might have recognized why. But I wasn’t here to back down and say “sike”, I had to give it a go.

The next day I came back in and instantly as I started, time seemed to dilate. My key memories? Cold shoulder treatments, spending 15 minutes working around language barriers and stopping 3 kids from starting a war over an iPad. Midway through, I concluded that I’m never coming back.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder why IBEL was on this mission and how I’ve never seen centres like these been advocated more. When it was time to leave, I decided to knock on Mr. Dhar’s door instead of pressing the lift button. It certainly hadn’t been his first time giving such a “presentation” as he went over statistics and anecdotes around the harsh realities of living as an ethnic minority in Hong Kong, and sure enough, I was 70% sold on the overlooked nature of ethnic children under HK’s education system.

Why (Pt.2)

To answer the second part of the “Why” question, just visit Hong Kong and take a journey down to more local areas, like Sham Shui Po or Jordan. Specifically, visit the less glamorous places and away from the finance bro districts, where you’ll find lots more industrial buildings and congregations of ethnic minority workers. More importantly, compared to the types of people I see around Hong Kong Island, mostly ethnic minority workers spend time in those areas without much recognition given to the population. When I watch news on TV or YouTube, lots of the shots taken are of white-collared people walking hastily in Central, where the $$$ are made.

I guess the realization I made and what I’m trying to get across is that two people dressing and behaving the same could receive drastically different treatment depending on the location they are in. Unfortunately, many ethnic minority families aren’t represented enough or feel that they deserve to visit wealthier districts on HK Island.

What next?

Something immediate we can all start doing is to treat ethnic workers as humans. Saying “thank you” or “please” when we’re asking them for a favour/for them to do something can go a long way. Be it hidden racism or a sense of superiority for being the boss or consumer, there’s no harm in an extra greeting that can potentially make their day. Without their help, HK’s hospitality industry would undoubtedly suffer and many families would suffer since parents need to work double shifts to take care of the family and go to work. Gratitude and service go both ways.

Beyond showing more appreciation for the ethnic workers that we can often take for granted, setting ethnic kids up for success is also crucial for HK’s future workforce. The problem? The kids lack hope, and understandably so. Imagine this: Your family has moved to a booming city like Hong Kong for better education and potentially a better future for you, yet, the education system doesn’t seem to be helping. Not only are you expected to learn a new language and adapt to a new culture, but somehow, you have compete with local students fluent in Cantonese/Mandarin? With the little support from teachers who are too busy to give you with personal guidance and parents who are busy working, it’s no wonder the opportunity gap in HK is exacerbating.

To cultivate a more educated and continuously developing future workforce, we should also uplift ethnic students in Hong Kong. It has been heartbreaking to see students from IBEL copy Chinese characters off of their teachers, but have zero understanding of what the word actually means (Like, the stroke orders are completely wrong!). Despite recent changes to the local school curriculum to encourage creativity and critical thinking, rote learning involving memorization and endless practices seem to entrench students’ studies. But with the emergence of automation in the hospitality sector, what makes humans remotely compelling to hire when a robot can do their job with greater precision and at a lower cost? If we don’t start elevating these ethnic children’s skills beyond forcing memorization skills onto them, they will soon be replaced.

Conclusion

In my eyes, these kids I work with are unsung heroes of Hong Kong because they will grow up to be great contributors of Hong Kong, so really, their development concerns the growth of our society. While top DSE achievers often get the spotlight for their hardwork and excellence, ethnic kids should be provided with more guidance for a brighter future. I explore this topic in detail in my EPQ (found under the ‘Extended Research’ section) but the main idea is to provide them with soft skills and wider opportunities beyond just university and entering into the workforce right after secondary school. Train their soft skills like communication, creativity and cultural competency and let them know of the wider opportunities available so they gain a sense of motivation to work hard. As for ethnic workers, let them know that they matter in our society through simple gestures and polite phrases, because they truly do matter.

Thanks for reading, and see you all in a bit.

-Winnie 01/07/2025