Hong Kong's former education minister Michael Suen says he advised against national education
Before the push to make national education a compulsory subject in schools became a political crisis in 2012, Michael Suen Ming-yeung, who was education minister at the time, says he advised against the move.
Before the push to make national education a compulsory subject in schools became a political crisis in 2012, Michael Suen Ming-yeung, who was education minister at the time, says he advised against the move.
But he said he didn't oppose the idea outright because "it is not that simple".
Suen made the revelation in an interview with Cable TV that was broadcast yesterday.
He also expressed regret that he had not made Chinese history a compulsory subject in schools, saying many young people in the city were ignorant about the history of Hong Kong, and that of China in general, as a result.
The national education issue blew up in Leung Chun-ying's face shortly after he took the chief executive job in July 2012. Thousands of marchers took to the streets in opposition to the new curriculum, and in October that year, Leung announced that the city would not make it mandatory.
Suen, who was the secretary for education from 2007 to 2012, said that he had raised concerns over the "sensitivity" of the issue at "the senior government level" at that time, but in the end his advice was not heeded.
"There are many ways to teach national education," Suen said. "There is no need to make it an independent subject."
He said critics were understandably suspicious of it as a way to brainwash children. "I understood it was a sensitive issue."
Asked why he did not oppose the idea, he said: "Being the [education minister] does not mean that you can take the bit in your teeth. It is not that simple."
But he would not say which of his former bosses at "the senior government level" had decided to press ahead with the policy.
Former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen announced in 2010 plans to launch "moral and national education" as a school subject.
Many people immediately opposed it, and that sentiment grew over the following two years as critics alleged it was an attempt to programme pupils to be loyal to the Communist Party.
At the peak of the campaign in mid-2012, tens of thousands of teachers, students, parents and other protesters took to the streets in what became a marathon protest culminating in a 10-day rally at the government headquarters at Tamar, in Admiralty.
Leung, who at first said he would implement the policy, eventually backed down and allowed schools to decide whether and how to teach national education in classes. That, coupled with Chinese history being dropped as a compulsory subject in schools, has been blamed for the rise of anti-China sentiment among young people.
Suen said in the interview that he had been wrong not to make Chinese history a mandatory subject. "Looking back, I admit that I did not give due consideration to the long-term impacts" of not making Chinese history a compulsory subject.
Without a proper understanding of Chinese history, Suen said many young people did not understand how Hong Kong had reached its present status as a special administrative region under the "one country, two systems" principle.
