National education controversy
Two Christian organisations will not introduce the controversial national education subject in their primary schools in September.
The opposition to the subject by Sheng Kung Hui - Hong Kong's Anglican Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong comes as people and groups are calling for it to be scrapped.
'What [the course] is actually aiming at remains unclear. We will continue our existing [teaching] practice until things are clarified,' Timothy Ha Wing-ho, Sheng Kung Hui's education adviser, said.
The church runs about 150 schools. Ha said it had proven difficult to blend national education with a religious curriculum.
'Religious groups are already contributing a great deal to promoting moral values,' he added.
Wong Kwok-kong, head of education at the Evangelical Lutheran Church, said that its seven primary schools would 'certainly' not start the subject this year.
Christian student Ambrose Li Cheuk-hin, 18, says national education has touched a raw nerve.
'I think to implement [national education] in spite of the amount of dissent means it would infringe the promise from the mainland that our way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years,' she said.
