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Classroom focus on Hong Kong independence ‘inappropriate’, unnecessary, education secretary says in defending teacher’s ouster
- Whether it influenced students to support independence ‘not the point’, says Kevin Yeung, who condemns time devoted to banned Hong Kong National Party
- But local primary school heads alliance representative says Education Bureau decision had ‘caused waves’ and was disagreed with by many
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A teacher’s deregistration for creating lesson plans that touched on Hong Kong independence was not a free-speech issue, as any number of examples could have been used to make similar points, the city’s secretary for education said on Wednesday.
Kevin Yeung Yun-hung’s defence of the move came as the chairman of a primary school heads alliance said the Education Bureau’s decision had “caused waves in the sector” and was disagreed with by many.
Although Alliance Primary School students interviewed by officials denied the class had led them to support Hong Kong independence, Yeung on Wednesday insisted that was “not the point”.
“There are many other examples that could be used to discuss freedom of speech,” Yeung said on a local radio programme.
“In the lesson plan, almost 50 minutes was spent discussing the Hong Kong National Party and its manifesto and the conclusion even mentions Taiwan, Xinjiang and Tibetan independence. You have to question why the example used would be a banned organisation,” he said, referring to the separatist party, which was outlawed by the government in 2018.
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