Students show scant interest in politics
Local secondary school students have shown political indifference, with none of last year's political news stories featuring in a top 10 list voted on by the teenagers.
The tragedy in which a mentally ill mother threw her children out of a window before jumping to her own death in Tin Shui Wai topped the students' list of the top 10 news stories.
Last month, more than 80,000 students from 110 schools were invited to vote for news stories they considered important in 2007.
The cabin that plunged from the Lantau cable-car system at Ngong Ping came second, followed by the rail merger in December.
News stories focusing on the battle between Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and legislator Alan Leong Ka-kit in the chief executive election in March ended up in 11th place, while the tussle between political heavyweights Anson Chan Fang On-sang and Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee in the Legislative Council by-election on Hong Kong Island last month took 12th place.
Eric Ng Hok-tung, member of the Hok Yau Club which organised the poll, said students seemed to be more concerned about social issues than political news.
'Students might feel that politics is not something that is directly related to them, as they do not have the right to vote for the chief executive or legislators,' he said.
Legislator Cheung Man-kwong said: 'The secondary students tend to care about things happening around them or relating to them.'
He suggested more civic education could help to improve students' political awareness.
The top 10
1 Tin Shui Wai family tragedy 49,619
2 Ngong Ping 360 saga 45,872
3 MTR/KCR merger 43,585
4 Demolition of Queen's Pier 43,259
5 12 years of free education 41,522
6 Virginia Tech massacre 38,017
7 Child prodigies March Boedihardjo and Ho Hoi-lam 37,295
8 Bar benders' strike 35,373
9 Chinese University Student Press in trouble for sex survey 34,153
10 Tips from private tutorial school on Chinese composition in HK Certificate of Education Examination 33,347
