TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 226

UNCLASSIFIED

НКК 24312

NAEIVED H. REGISTRY NO. 51

18 FEB 1980

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

NO

PA

REGISTRY Action Taken

218.2 AW 15/2

L M Davies Esq CMC OBE. Secretary for Security

Government Secretariat HONG KONG

233 3184

HKK 243/2

15 February 1980

See (32)

ENGLISH TEACHING FOR VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG

1.

On the telephone to you on 12 February I mentioned that the Home Office had been considering the possibility of their funding the British Council scheme to run an English language training programme in Hong Kong for refugees coming to the UK.

2. After consulting the Department of Education and Science, the Home Office doubt whether they can justify allocating funds for this scheme. They give three reasone:

3.

i) Conditions in the Argyle Street camp would seem to make

it difficult to ensure a reasonably regular attendance at classes;

ii) a language course of two to three weeks would be of very limited educational value (to be effective, a course would have to last for several months);

iii) The acquisition of English is unlikely to have much effect

on the rate of resettlement of refugees in the UK where the constraints are mainly the shortage of suitable housing and the administrative problem of matching refugees to accommodation, rather than problems arising from inadequate knowledge of English.

These arguments seem pretty strong. However, you might like to know that they have been considering whether it would be worthwhile introducing a scheme to give "socialising instruction" in their mother tongue to refugees in transit camps. Such a programme would include information on housing, education, employment, medical care and personal hygiene, and would have the advantage of being simple and relatively inexpensive. Perhpas I can discuss the subject with you during my visit to Hong Kong, and I can then follow it up with the Home Office when I get back, if necessary. You should note that they have not yet decided how it should be fundedt

cc DC Bray Esq CHG CVO Hong Kong Government Office

LONDON

RD Clift

Hong Kong and General Department

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