More Hong Kong schools held patriotic events for National Day than last year, survey finds

The poll by a teachers’ union found a greater proportion of schools held flag-raising ceremonies and sang the national anthem than before

But it also discovered most are holding off adding national security education to syllabuses until the government provides guidelines on the best approach

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Students from Pui Kiu Middle School in North Point take part in a flag-raising ceremony. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 11:38pm, 29 Oct 2020Updated: 3:16am, 30 Oct 2020

More Hong Kong schools held flag-raising ceremonies and sang the Chinese anthem celebrating the country’s October 1 birthday after the adoption of laws covering the song and national security in June, a survey by a teachers’ union has found.

The Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers also said about 30 per cent of the more than 200 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools polled said they already had plans to carry out national security education through assemblies and talks for pupils.

The security law, which took effect on June 30, targets acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. It requires schools and universities to promote national security education.

A flag-raising ceremony at Scientia Secondary School in Ho Man Tin on July 1. Photo: May Tse

But the Education Bureau has yet to release detailed guidelines on how schools should teach the topic or how syllabuses might be changed to add the relevant content.

As a result, about 70 per cent of the 234 schools polled said they preferred to wait for the bureau’s guidelines before updating their syllabuses.

“[The Education Bureau] should release detailed guidelines on national education as soon as possible,” said Tang Fei, a secondary school principal and the vice-chairman of the pro-establishment federation, which has 35,000 members.