Veteran Hong Kong teacher expresses surprise that Occupy did not feature in liberal studies exam

The failure to include questions about the student-led Occupy movement and the controversy over political reform in this year's liberal studies examination raised a veteran teacher's eyebrows yesterday.

A consultant to the Liberal Studies Teachers' Association, Cheung Yui-fai, said while the 79-day pro-democracy sit-ins saw many young people taking to the streets last year, there was no sign of the event in questions for yesterday's two-part exam.

"We are slightly worried if the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority has tried to avoid crafting certain questions as a result of external political influence," the liberal studies teacher said.

The mandatory subject, introduced four years ago as part of the new Diploma of Secondary Education syllabus, has featured at least one compulsory politicsrelated question in the past three years.

While students were asked about protests and the city's core values last year, the closest this year was a question involving tourism and a mainland teen who carved his name on a temple in Egypt.

But Cheung dismissed suggestions that self-censorship was involved, saying the authority might want to avoid repeating the same topic. He said the exam paper was up to standard.