Publisher will not alter pro-Beijing materials

A publisher at the centre of the latest national education controversy said yesterday it had no plans to recall or edit teaching materials seen as biased towards Beijing.

National Education Services Centre director Wong Kwan-yu said after meeting education officials that it would only provide material online to supplement the materials in question, which have been dubbed 'problematic' and unfit for use by Secretary of Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim.

The government-funded materials - first disclosed by the Professional Teachers' Union - said that multiparty politics could 'victimise' people while concentrated political power creates a 'selfless' government and stable society.

Wong, whose group is led by Beijing-loyalist educator Yeung Yiu-chung, a National People's Congress deputy, said altering the materials would be akin to censorship and teachers did not have to use them.

'We don't agree with the opinions that [our materials are biased],' he said. 'We won't allow [our materials] to go through political censorship.'

The centre, along with another Yeung-led group, the National Education Centre, received at least HK$72 million in funding from the government over the past six years