Crash courses for domestic workers may be illegal

A learning center in Hong Kong is now offering a special crash course to train domestic workers to be family tutors. An ad from the center claims its eight-hour session will equip workers and caretakers with professional knowledge and hone their skills to guide and motivate children, which in turn, will help them ace exams and be admitted into prestigious schools.

The HK$800 (US$102) crash course includes child psychology, storytelling techniques as well as bare bones theories about home and kindergarten education, according to the Ming Pao Daily News.

But it has been revealed by local papers that the learning center was an unlicensed agency whose managers may have committed an offense.

The Education Ordinance stipulates that any institution, organization or establishment that provides for 20 or more persons during any one day any educational course is required to be registered as a school.

The Hong Kong government is now consulting members of the public on new policy initiatives to foster parent education and home-school collaboration, and some parents have suggested designated courses to train domestic workers, as part of the compulsory vocational training and qualification system for job seekers.

But domestic worker rights advocacy groups say employers should not make maids attend these courses, nor should they dodge their parental obligations and simply expect maids and caretakers to be responsible for the education of their children.