TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 December, 2015, 10:48pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 27 December, 2015, 10:48pm
Confucian Tai Shing Primary School is one of three schools run by the Confucian community. Photo: Joshua Lee
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying drew a barrage of criticism from clerics a year ago when he said religious groups represented on the Election Committee “do not contribute to the economy”.
Leung’s remarks were meant to show that the 1,200-strong body that selected him for the post was fair, but it turned the spotlight on just how much religious organisations had done – especially on education and welfare services – to make Hong Kong a better place.
Taoism and Buddhism are arguably the largest religions in the city, each claiming to have about one million followers, while the Protestant and Catholic communities have about 500,000 and 368,000 followers, respectively. Islam has about 300,000 adherents.
READ MORE: In an ageing Hong Kong, religious groups put faith in youth
But in terms of educational services, the Protestant community leads the way by running a third of the city’s 1,800 kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools. That includes 260 out of about 1,000 kindergartens, 199 of 452 primary schools and 180 of 395 secondary schools.
The Catholic diocese runs an additional 264 kindergartens and schools, while the Taoist community runs more than 40 schools and kindergartens, as well as subsidising courses at universities and tertiary institutions.
The Chinese Muslim Cultural and Fraternal Association operates at least five kindergartens and schools, and the Confucian community runs three.
In terms of welfare services, the Protestant community again plays a pivotal role with 107 social organisations providing a range of services at over 100 community family or youth service centres.
Catholic groups run 41 social and family service centres, 25 hostels, 16 homes for the elderly and 27 rehabilitation service centres.
In the medical field, the Protestant and Catholic communities run at least 13 hospitals and the Buddhist Association runs one.
Professor Tam Wai-lun, head of Chinese University’s cultural and religious studies department, said the contribution by religious groups was even bigger than the statistics suggested.
Tam believed their importance would continue to grow but their influence was likely to be limited to non-political fields. “[They] usually influence politics on [some] issues only,” he said, referring to topics such as same-sex marriage, strongly opposed by many Christian churches.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1895418/schools-hostels-and-hospitals-how-hong-kongs
