Protest against national education to end after government climbdown
10-day siege of government headquarters called off after chief executive, on eve of Legco poll, says curriculum no longer mandatory
Protesters who have besieged government headquarters for 10 days in opposition to the teaching of national education in Hong Kong schools called off their action early today – hours after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced, on election eve, that schools would no longer be required to teach the subject.
Leung said the government had scrapped its three-year deadline for schools to begin teaching national education, and said schools would be free to choose independently whether to teach the subject. He pledged not to push for compulsory lessons during his five years in office.
Government officials and critics alike agreed Leung had conceded defeat. However, the activists said they would continue their opposition to national education until the government scraps the curriculum, which they consider an exercise in brainwashing students. They say that while the lessons remain an option, pressure will linger for schools to teach the subject in future.
Joshua Wong Chi-fung, the 15-year-old convenor of student-activist group Scholarism, which has spearheaded protests against the curriculum, said: "Our occupation of the government headquarters ends now, but our fight against it will go on and on ... When that is achieved, we will come back and celebrate here.”
Eva Chan Sik-chee, of the Parents Concern Group, said protesters on a hunger strike would end their fast – among them Professional Teachers' Union deputy director James Hon Lin-shan, 63, who had not eaten for 170 hours, the longest of all.
Wong hailed the movement as “a historic miracle”.