New language, more possibilities: Hong Kong charity empowers marginalised pupils by providing subsidised Chinese classes
- Integrated Brilliant Education Limited provides after-school classes to support the education of underprivileged non-Chinese-speaking children
- Charity says pupils are all ‘children of Hong Kong’ and plans to give more pupils ‘a good foundation’ for learning Cantonese with kindergarten launch by end of 2023
Eight-year-old Hong Kong-born Nepali Keiwanthh Gurung proudly shows a new friend how to write his name in Chinese, as he converses in Cantonese with such confidence and ease that it may be hard to imagine he barely spoke a word of the language not so long ago.
“I got 85 marks in [Primary One],” the Primary Two student said in fluent Cantonese, adding that his results for his school’s Chinese-language examinations were improving.
Explaining how he can now speak the Chinese language with schoolmates and other people in his everyday life, Gurung said he was previously unable to do so until he started taking classes at Integrated Brilliant Education Limited (IBEL) as a Kindergarten Two (K2) student.
Established in 2015, the charity provides after-school tuition and Chinese-language classes for heavily subsidised fees to support the education of underprivileged non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) children.
Gurung is one of 280 students, ranging from K2 to Form Six levels, attending classes run by the organisation.
