Growing opportunities

Vocational education when properly given can work as an effective tool to help young people from poorer families achieve better personal development, according to experts in the field.

At the third World Philanthropy Forum held in Shanghai on Sept 5, attendees discussed ways to make such education relevant to real job settings.

In many countries, young learners find the vocational courses they receive lead to nowhere, Anthony Mann, head of vocational education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said at the forum.

"Which means that they don't have pathways up to higher education levels and thus their career development is hindered," he added.

The forum's theme centered on building a community for sustainable development. The annual event was hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Tsinghua University, the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Ngai Sek-yum, dean of social work studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said more students from low-income families tend to receive vocational education than those from families with better income because of the resources available to the latter group for children's general education.

But he said society must cast aside any "bias" against young people who receive vocational education and stop viewing them as losers in the fierce competition of exams.