Sha Tin Baptist school scraps launch of national education amid protests
Website notice tells parents that instead of launching the controversial new subject it will continue to teach civic and moral education
One of the seven primary schools known to be planning to teach national education announced yesterday that it would halt lessons in the contentious subject, as opposition from alumni and parents mounted.
Baptist Lui Ming Choi Primary School in Sha Tin posted a notice to parents on its website yesterday afternoon, saying that acting on the latest instruction from its sponsoring organisation, the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong, the school had decided to defer launching the subject.
Instead, it said, it would stick to the long-established civic and moral education subject in the 2012/13 school year.
On Tuesday the Baptist convention's general secretary, the Reverend Peter Tsui, said: "At this time, when there is so much argument and the government has not offered a good response and evaluation, we should consider suspending the launch."
Despite an announcement that yesterday's session designated for the controversial subject would be changed to other class activities, some parents still gave their children a slip requesting teachers send them to the library if the school ran the national education lesson.
Some even deliberately sent their children to school late so they would miss the 30-minute session, slated for 8am.