Asian pupils 'bullied in NZ classrooms'

By REBECCA WALSH

Asian children often feel like second-class citizens and are bullied at school for speaking their own language, a report out today says.

"Children and Youth in Aotearoa 2003", a report for the United Nations, says the New Zealand Government has made little progress in implementing its policies for children and young people.

Vivian Cheung, author of the Asian section of the report, said Asian children faced harassment ranging from being ignored to being bullied for talking in their own language during school breaks.

Some Asian youth feared being stereotyped by police and becoming a target of "road monitoring". One Chinese student at a driver education programme overheard a fellow student say: "If you a Chink and you drive you are a bloody idiot."

There were also reports that young Asian women were the targets of sexual attacks because of the perception they would not report the crime.

Sometimes religious beliefs led to discrimination. For example, the dress codes of some schools and workplaces did not always respect requirements for girls and women to be covered.

Ms Cheung said schools offered Asian children and young people few opportunities to learn and speak their mother tongue. There was limited teaching of Asian history and culture. She advocated community bridging programmes rather than changes to school curriculum.

Family situations resulted in difficulties for some children, for example, "parachute kids", those left alone in New Zealand by their parents, and those in "astronaut families" where one parent stays here with the children and the other works in their homeland.

New Zealand First's attitude to Asian immigration had affected the well-being of Asian young people already struggling to fit in, by creating a climate where discrimination was normalised, Ms Cheung said.

Anecdotal reports indicated some foreign fee-paying students living with home-stay families were unsupervised, doing an unreasonable amount of household chores and being subjected to abuse and neglect.

The report said 7 per cent of the population under 18 identified with Asian ethnicity. The Asian population was the third largest ethnic group in New Zealand, but Asian children and youth were overlooked in Government policies and practices.

That was highlighted by much of the report about Asian young people being based on anecdotal accounts because statistical information was not available - Ms Cheung spoke to about 20 people, including young people, counsellors, social workers and health workers.

The report recommended the Commissioner for Children carry out an urgent review of the safety and well-being of international students, with special attention paid to young unaccompanied children.

It urged the Ministry of Education to help schools develop and review strategies for protecting children from racial harassment and sought protection and encouragement of Asian cultures, religions and languages in Government and everyday life.