Some Hong Kong schools miss deadline for filing national security education plans
- Education minister Kevin Yeung says only ‘a proportion’ of schools have submitted their plans but declines to reveal how many
- A survey in June found only about half of Hong Kong schools were ready to teach the subject as required under security legislation
Some schools in Hong Kong have failed to meet a Tuesday government deadline to file launch plans for national security education, marking a slow start to the initiative under related legislation imposed by Beijing.
Education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said on Wednesday that only “a proportion of schools” had submitted their plans for instilling patriotism in students and incorporating national security-related themes into activities and subjects.
“Regarding the national security education report, we had asked schools to submit it to the Education Bureau before the end of August. Of course, a proportion of schools have submitted it, but not all have done so,” Yeung said.
He would not reveal how many schools had missed the deadline, nor did he mention any consequences. But Yeung did say authorities would scrutinise the plans in detail to ensure school administrators were properly launching national security education on campus.
A bureau spokesman also declined to say how many schools had failed to file their plans on time or whether there would be repercussions.