Education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim has defended the controversial national-education subject for schools, saying it is useful for 'values building' despite its overlap with other subjects and the growing pressure to delay its introduction.
Academics, meanwhile, continued to criticise the decision to make it a stand-alone subject, with one saying it would be better as part of the liberal studies curriculum.
The government will launch national education in primary schools next month, and make it compulsory for primary schools in 2015 and in secondary schools the following year.
Ng said yesterday that while the curriculum overlapped with such subjects as Chinese history and liberal studies it offered a different viewpoint.
'Liberal studies trains students' way of thinking, while Chinese history deals with historical facts. The things missing are morals, feelings and values,' he said.
'A student may identify an issue as good or bad and think about it from various angles. But [in national education], they should also address their roles in a family. It's not only about rational analysis.'