National education is established policy and it will be a compulsory subject for primary and secondary schools by 2013. This subject includes study of our Basic Law, and activities to enable young people to gain a deep understanding of China and develop a strong sense of national identity. The government's target is to subsidise each and every primary and secondary school student to join at least one mainland exchange programme.
In the chief executive's policy address last year, national education was embedded in the section on democratic development, and not under the sections on education or youth development. The reason is clear: mainland officials have said that Hong Kong should be governed by Hong Kong people 'with patriots as the main body', meaning those who support the views and policies of the central authorities.
But there is clearly tension within the government on how to implement national education.
Those who are in charge of education and curriculum development recognise the need to adopt a broad and balanced approach that appeals to students. They are particularly sensitive to criticism of brainwashing.
Those who regard national education as a 'one country' political imperative, such as Lau Nai-keung, a member of the Committee for the Basic Law, see nothing wrong with brainwashing. '[It] is like going to church ... you will not receive information about other religions and atheism there,' he has said.
And some argue that brainwashing is common in the Western education system. Hao Tiechuan, the publicity chief of the central government's liaison office, made this point in a blog post in May.
