Hong Kong secondary school defends decision to suspend student who displayed protest slogan in online class
- Heung To Middle School, a self-described ‘traditional patriotic school’, said it did not ‘want to see any student’s future being destroyed’ over political activism
- The offending slogan, ‘Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now’, carries overtones of subversion and secession, the Education Bureau has said
A Hong Kong secondary school that suspended a student for displaying the political slogan “Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now” during online classes broke its silence on Monday, saying disciplinary action had been taken in accordance with Benjamin Franklin’s maxim of “love well, whip well”.
Without going into details of the case, Heung To Middle School said in an internal statement to parents that its disciplinary actions were aimed at letting students reflect on their mistakes, and that the school had “always attached great importance” to teaching pupils to abide by the law and fostering their sense of national identity.
Last Monday, a Form Four pupil at the school in Kowloon Tong was told by management that he would be suspended for a week for having an image of a flag bearing the controversial slogan as his profile picture for online lessons, according to the school’s student concern group.
The group added that the student was warned by management that he could be given demerits, and was told to consider transferring to another school.
The slogan – along with similar phases, such as “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times”, which became popular during last year’s anti-government protests – has been deemed by local authorities a violation of the city’s sweeping, Beijing-drafted national security law.
The legislation, which came into effect on June 30, outlaws in broad terms any acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security.