Hong Kong teacher who taught inaccurate lessons on first opium war stripped of registration over ‘wild guesses’ in classroom
- The teacher told his students the war was result of Britain’s attempts to ban opium in China, when it was in fact quite the opposite
- He is the second to be deregistered since June last year, following case of a teacher accused of spreading pro-independence messages
A Hong Kong primary school teacher who taught pupils a distorted history of the first Sino-British opium war on Thursday became the second educator stripped of his registration in the past two months, with authorities saying he relied on “wild guesses” in the classroom.
The latest deregistered teacher is understood to work at Ho Lap Primary School in Tsz Wan Shan. His case came to light in April after a video circulated online showing him telling a Primary Two general studies class that the war, fought between 1839 and 1842, was the result of “Britain’s attempt to ban opium smoking in China”.
Both the teacher and the school received widespread criticism over the lesson, given that Britain had in fact sought to import massive amounts of opium into China before the war, with officials from the Qing dynasty moving to stamp out the drug trade.
The school’s principal quickly apologised to parents over the incorrect lesson, and an internal investigation was carried out. It is understood that the teacher was suspended after the incident came to light, and the school’s sponsoring body, Sik Sik Yuen – a religious charitable organisation – said on Thursday night that the teacher had left the institution.