Students take selfies at a lecture by Hu Hao, chief designer of China's third-phase lunar exploration program, at the University of Hong Kong on June 23, 2021. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - How to effectively help young people and less-privileged groups is highlighted in proposals submitted by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s upcoming Policy Address.

On Thursday, representatives of the FTU, the city’s biggest labor union organization, presented proposals covering 12 areas of social development to the government.

Speaking to the media after their meeting with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, Joephy Chan Wing-yan, a lawmaker from the HKFTU, suggested the government further ease the financial burden on young people by subsidizing college students’ tuition loans

Speaking to the media after their meeting with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, Joephy Chan Wing-yan, a lawmaker from the HKFTU, suggested the government further ease the financial burden on young people by subsidizing college students’ tuition loans. 

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Chan also encouraged the government to use more idle parks and street markets to hold holiday markets, which could help young people start their own businesses and provide more affordable workspaces for them.

After the pandemic is over, the government could also offer an allotted number of free tickets on high-speed trains to local young people, to boost their incentive to explore the vast Chinese mainland.

Legislator Bill Tang Ka-piu called for attention to be paid to the city’s poverty-alleviation efforts. To offer support in a more targeted way, he advised the authorities to establish designated task forces to identify and aid less-privileged families in the community.

The task force should also come up with plans to assist low-income households, with priority given to families living in subdivided accommodation with schoolchildren, single parents, those with chronic illness, as well as vulnerable ethnic minority families, Tang said.

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