80 per cent of Hong Kong teachers struggling with national security education, survey finds
- Pro-establishment teachers’ union attributes findings to lack of familiarity with the law
- ‘If you ask these legal laymen to teach law, they’re surely not confident enough,’ vice-chairman says
The pro-establishment Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers surveyed 315 educators earlier this month – some 60 per cent of whom dealt with national security-related classes themselves – and found that 64 per cent across all grade levels were “not confident” when it came to teaching the subject.
Revealing the results of the survey on Tuesday, federation vice-chairman Tang Fei attributed the results to teachers’ lack of understanding about the Beijing-imposed national security law.
“Nobody majors in law,” said Tang, who is also the principal of Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O). “If you ask these legal laymen to teach law, they’re surely not confident enough.”
The national security law, which took effect on June 30 last year, targets acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. It also requires schools and universities to promote national security education.