Hong Kong schools to get subsidies for building ties to mainland China
Subsidy for cross-border partnerships and better history lessons promised as Beijing presses city to better understand the nation
The government is to subsidise primary and secondary schools to forge links with counterparts on the mainland.
The announcement - at a time when Beijing officials are stressing the need for "better understanding" of Hong Kong's place in the nation - will come in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address on Wednesday, a government source said.
The government will bolster Chinese history teaching but will not make the subject compulsory throughout secondary school, the source added.
"By making local and mainland schools sister institutions, Hong Kong pupils will have more opportunities to exchange with mainland counterparts," the source said. "It will enrich their knowledge of the mainland."
But the news alarmed a pro-democracy educator, who fears a back-door attempt to introduce national education - the subject withdrawn by the government after protests in 2012.
The government launched a "sister-school scheme" in 2004 and so far 420 Hong Kong schools have established partnerships. This will be the first time the government has backed the scheme with cash. The source did not reveal the size of the subsidy.
The source said the government would boost Chinese history teaching at junior secondary level, where it is compulsory either as an independent subject or in the context of world history.