TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 160

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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51

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DESK OFFICER

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INDEX

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GOVERNMENT HOUSE

HONG KONG

REGISTRY

Action Taken

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4 April 1980

Visit by Mr Pointon and Miss Dalglish

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Mr John Pointon, Head of Adult Education in Thorney Island Reception Centre, whom I met when I visited Thorney Island, and Miss Carol Dalglish, an adviser to the Centre on language training, visited Hong Kong recently. They said they were on a private fact finding visit to learn about the life of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong camps, and to see what could be done to improve the refugees' knowledge of English and of life in U. K. in general. made it clear that they were not representing the Home Office.

They

Mr Pointon and Miss Dalglish called on me just before they left Hong Kong on 8th April. They suggested that it would be useful if more material on life and society in U. K. could be made available to refugees here, both to stimulate a desire to be resettled in the U. K. and to keep up the interest (and thus reduce dropouts) of those who had already been selected but had not yet departed. Pointon said he had such material available in the U.K. and would send it to Hong Kong as soon as possible. We shall certainly make use of it here.

They made the point that while proficiency in English has not been a problem in the speed of resettlement in U. K., it would nevertheless be useful for the refugees

The difficulty in Hong Kong to acquire some knowledge of it. here is that over 70% of the adult refugees have found employment and are not readily available for language classes. In any case the resources available are not sufficient to enable formal language training to be given to all refugees.

Pointon recognised that voluntary agencies were doing what they could to teach the refugee children, but believed that an effort should be made to encourage the adults to learn English themselves. He suggested that books and cassette tapes on learning English should be made freely accessible in camps to stimulate the refugees' interest so that they could be persuaded to buy them and learn English themselves.

M. Monchie Maáre

Mr. Williams

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This t' ame extent cuts across the earlier properal

for Kay Lung Leaching in HK but is more modest. Advice & dfr reply pl.

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