National security law: Hong Kong schools told to remove books that might fall foul of the legislation
- Education Bureau orders schools to assess their books and immediately remove those that ‘possibly violate’ the law
- Principals appeal for clearer guidance on review process as critics issue warnings about infringements on academic freedom
Following the withdrawal of several publications from public libraries last week, the Education Bureau said on Monday that schools should get rid of reading materials which “possibly violate” the new legislation, while insisting that pupils should be taught the positive values of safeguarding national security.
Principals have called on the bureau to seek legal advice and then issue clearer guidelines on schools’ new responsibilities, while critics raised concerns over the impact on academic freedom if university libraries were also targeted.
At least nine titles by localist Horace Chin Wan-kan, youth activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and lawmaker Tanya Chan were removed from the shelves of community libraries last week, pending a review of whether they infringed the new law.
The Post has found a number of those titles, in book and online formats, still available in some academic libraries, including at the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and the University of Science and Technology.
The Education Bureau said schools should review their book collections in line with the four categories of offences under the new law, but would not be required to submit their catalogues to officials for further vetting.
“If any teaching materials including books have content which is outdated or involve the four crimes under the law, unless they are being used to positively teach pupils about their national security awareness or sense of safeguarding national security … they should otherwise be removed from the school,” a bureau spokesman said.