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Hong Kong national security law
Hong KongEducation

Hong Kong schools prepare to include national security education in everything from English to music, physics and IT lessons

  • Some schools doing more than others, ready with detailed plans they will implement in September covering subjects from English to IT
  • Senior teachers must submit reports next month describing how they intend to teach national security

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ELCHK Hung Hom Lutheran Primary School principal Wong Chi-wah and teacher Chan Yuk-ting are helping to develop the school’s national security education programme. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Chan Ho-him

Stepping into ELCHK Hung Hom Lutheran Primary School in Kowloon, pupils pass through a traditional red Chinese door and decorative eaves to get to their classrooms.

The co-educational school, run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong, is among those that will run a trial of national security education for the academic year starting in September.

“For primary school pupils, especially younger children, it’s best to start with knowing more about our motherland and Chinese culture before learning about national security. Cultivating their national identity is important,” principal Wong Chi-wah said.

By next month, about 1,000 primary and secondary schools must submit a report to the Education Bureau describing how they intend to teach national security themes.

Interviews with five school heads showed a range of approaches, from schools planning to do the minimum, to some who will infuse national security education into almost every subject.

After Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in June last year, the education authorities issued at least 17 sets of guidelines on curriculum framework, administrative work and pupils’ behaviour for schools to adopt by the 2022-23 school year at the latest.
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