Many Children Have Lost Faith In HK: Youth Group

A youth group says its recent survey of 750 children has found that half are unsatisfied with Hong Kong's governance, with almost a tenth of them saying they'd like to leave the territory.

The Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association polled children aged 6 to 17 from February to March.

While the pandemic and class suspensions had a significant impact on children, around half also said they don't believe the government consults or listens to people's views.

Around 40 percent said that have little confidence in Hong Kong's future or that the political situation will stabilise in the coming year and society become more harmonious.

The group's executive director, Charles Chan, noted that such sentiments are more common among children aged 15 to 17, probably because they are more sensitive to news reports and social events.

"For older kids, they're more sensitive about the social changes and also the syllabus changes in the secondary school syllabus... For the younger kids, they are more impacted by school suspensions and e-classes, and the lack of chances to meet their friends," he said.

With 59 children saying they wanted to move to other countries in future, Chan said this was a phenomenon worthy of attention.

He said decisions to emigrate can be affected by a family's economic situation and the children's study plans, but Hong Kong could face problems if it lost a significant number of young people.

"It could be a wide social sentiment that the government is not listening to the public, the underprivileged and the young people. That could build up some sentiment that they're not being respected and cherished," Chan said.

He urged the government to be more humble in communicating and listening to young people and the public, as well as to provide more explanations regarding policies.