(Hong Kong, 22 September 2007) Over half of the underprivileged families in Hong
Kong cannot afford extra-curricular activities or additional
learning courses for their children due to financial difficulties,
according to a survey by St. James Settlement.
The poll, conducted in June and July this year among parents, also found that
47% of the 535 interviewees have to cut their daily expenses
for meals, transport and daily necessities in order to enable
their children to participate in extra-curricular activities.
In addition, survey results indicated
that about 40% of the parents polled suffered from anxiety
while struggling to cope with expenses for their children's
extra-curricular activities.
"We care about the growth of children
from underprivileged families. We hope these children can
use every opportunity to learn and enhance their capabilities
so they can contribute to the community when they grow up.
Most importantly, we hope they can get out of poverty,"
said Mr. Michael Lai, Chief Executive Officer of St. James
Settlement.
Against this backdrop, St. James Settlement
has joined hands with Octopus Cards Limited (OCL) to launch
the "Octopus Kids' Nurturing Program". Under the program,
100 underprivileged students from six primary schools in
Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai will take part in various extra-curricular
activities over the next three months. With OCL's financial
support, these activities include English drama, Chinese
painting, multi-mathematical training, photographic collage,
African drums and Taekwondo.
"Through this program, we hope the
children can learn to cope with adversity. We would like
to encourage them to learn and tap into their potential and
creativity because we believe that acquiring new skills will
be helpful in their all-round development in the long run,"
said Ms Prudence Chan, OCL's Chief Executive Officer. To
support this program, OCL has also for the first time formed
a volunteer team who will play their part in giving the children
care and support.
"As parents, we of course want to
provide the best educational opportunity for our children.
Unfortunately, we are unable to satisfy such needs due to
financial difficulty. It is an extra burden on us having
to cater for any extra-curricular activities," a parent
said.
Thanks to the program, each student
will get an Octopus wristband with a stored value of HK$100.
To back this up, Dr Billy Mak, Associate Professor of the
Department of Finance & Decision Sciences of the Hong Kong Baptist University, gave a talk at the launch
ceremony today, instilling in the students the concept of
financial management.
"It's important to establish a rational
spending habit amongst children, and for them to learn from
an early age how to manage finance wisely. It's equally
important for children to know the difference between "needs
and wants"
said Dr Mak.
|