‘Professor Paws’ helps HK school kids

HONG KONG: At assembly time on a Thursday morning at Li Sing Tai Hang School in Hong Kong, six-year-old Adnan is all a twitter with excitement.

Three new ‘professors’ — Claude, Shogan and Remy — are scheduled to visit his school that day to give him and his classmates some exercises in English conversation — and a few other lessons besides. What thrills Adnan particularly isn’t just the limitless joy of linguistic instruction; he’s also hoping that by session’s end, he’ll have overcome his inhibitions enough to feed the visiting professors a biscuit or two, walk them on a leash around the classroom — and perhaps even have them wagging their tails with joy!

The curious goings-on in some primary schools across Hong Kong are easily explained: Claude, Shogan and Remy are just three of many canine ‘professors’ participating in a pioneering programme run by Animals Asia, a Hong Kong-based animal welfare charity. Under the ‘Professor Paws Pet Cadet’ programme (as it’s called), teams of dogs visit classrooms in schools, typically in low-income neighbourhoods, and help improve the children’s English proficiency and literacy skills — while simultaneously instilling in them kindness and compassion for all animals.

“Many children in Hong Kong, especially those living in public housing, never get a chance to touch a dog,” says Anneleise Smillie, Education Director at Animals Asia, who conceptualised the programme. “That’s because their parents tell them dogs are dangerous — or dirty. And the outbreak of SARS in 2003 contributed to this climate of fear. People began abandoning dogs and cats because they were scared.”

The programme, started up in 2004, seeks to help children overcome this instilled fear of dogs and teach them that dogs (and other animals) have a beneficial role to play in society. It also offers them lessons in responsible pet ownership and pet care, and helps them articulate their emotions about animals. Over 2,000 students in 21 schools across Hong Kong have so far been tutored under “Professor Paws”. 

At Li Sing Tai Hang School, the students belong to various nationalities — Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese, Filipina, Chinese and Japanese. Today, they’ve been divided up into three groups — each of which is assigned to a visiting ‘professor’. At the start of the hour-long session, most of the children seem petrified at being near the dogs, but under the patient guidance of Smillie and Animals Asia volunteers, they learn some “dog safety rules”: ask the owner’s permission before you touch a dog, how to approach a dog and let him sniff the back of your hand, never touch a dog when he’s eating…

Strikingly, the dogs act as catalysts for communication. “Typically, the children are shy to speak English in class,” notes the school’s English tutor Clare Rawlings.

“But when they’re around dogs, they rapidly shed their inhibitions and go up and ask the owners for permission to play with their dogs. They seem to forget they’re learning English.”

The ice having been thus broken, the children rapidly gain in confidence and are soon asking for permission to feed the dogs, walk them on a leash, brush their hair. “Just the fact of being able to overcome their fear of something is very empowering for the children,” notes Smillie. “It’s a tremendous boost to their self-esteem.”

Simultaneously, the children are given worksheets to fill in — and asked to record their emotions about their professors. Says Smillie: “Most children don’t have a sense of ‘the other’… But this exercise introduces the children to the idea that there’s another being that has feelings outside of their own. It stimulates the children’s cognitive development.” 

By this time, the professors are being cuddled, hugged and kissed ceaselessly by their wards, and they stoically put up with the gratuitous public displays of affection. “All our volunteer dogs are certified safe,” says Smillie.

The children then take a pledge — to spread the good word that all “sentient beings” deserve human compassion — and end with a rousing ‘Pet Cadet’ song, complete with mews, barks, grunts and countless other animal sounds, and a ‘graduation ceremony’ at which they are handed certificates. 

Animals Asia cites studies done across the world that establish that companion animals can enrich human lives in many ways. “Parents worry that animals will have a negative effect on their children,” say Smillie. “But in fact there are many psychological and physiological benefits to being in regular contact with pets.” For instance, children with pets have are known to have better attendance record at schools, and even a higher immunity to allergies. 

Yet, the theme of animals in schools hasn’t enjoyed popular literary endorsement. In that ageless nursery rhyme, for instance, Mary’s little lamb that followed her to school was the cause of much merriment because “it was against the rules”. But by rewriting the rules of the learning process, the canine Professors of Hong Kong are teaching mankind an important lesson about compassion to all animal forms.