Hong Kong schools pull out of debate contest after furore over protest-related topics
- Motions about restructuring the police force and breaking away from China were lambasted as politicised and inappropriate
- Four schools have pulled out since then, citing reasons such as schedule clashes, organisers said, adding that it was a ‘pity’
At least four secondary schools have withdrawn from a debate competition after a pro-Beijing outcry over the discussion of protest-related topics, its organisers have said.
Debate motions such as “Hong Kong people should fight for Hong Kong independence” and “Restructuring the police force does more good than harm” were slammed by pro-Beijing teachers’ union the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers last week. The HKFEW said such propositions were politicised and inappropriate.
More than 120 schools are taking part in the first-ever Hong Kong Secondary Schools Debate Competition, with preliminary rounds running from November to January. Most of the 145 finalised topics were proposed by participating schools and chosen based on criteria including relevance to local and international current affairs and resonance with secondary-school students.
But four schools said over the past few days they were pulling out of the competition, citing reasons such as scheduling clashes, organisers said on Monday, adding that it was a “pity”. The withdrawals followed denunciations of the protest-related topics by the HKFEW and pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Friday.
Organisers from the Hong Kong Schools Debate Federation (HKSDF), set up in September by more than 10 members with years of debating experience, said it had no plans to drop any of the topics, saying the competition was “politically neutral and professional”.