Hong Kong teachers and students have duty to defend national security under patriotic education bill, says education minister

Teachers to visit mainland China to foster mainstream values of ‘loving the country and Hong Kong’, says Secretary for Education Christine Choi

Bill states country will adopt measures to strengthen awareness of its history and culture among those in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

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Schools at all levels and of all types should integrate patriotic education into their curriculums, the bill says. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 5:14pm, 1 Jul 2023Updated: 9:49pm, 1 Jul 2023

Teachers and students should be made aware of their responsibilities to defend national security under the patriotic education bill, which Hong Kong authorities sought to strengthen, the education minister has said.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin on Saturday also said the city would send more teachers to visit mainland China in the coming year to foster mainstream values of “loving the country and Hong Kong” which were also in line with the “one country, two systems” governing principle.

It was the first time Choi had weighed in on the proposed national bill on patriotic education, scrutinised by China’s top legislative body – the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee – earlier this week. It is now under public consultation.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi says students and teachers should be made aware of what is required of them under the new patriotic bill. Photo: Sam Tsang

Article 22 of the bill states the country will adopt measures to strengthen awareness of its history and culture among those in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to safeguard national unity. Article 14 also noted that schools at all levels and of all types should integrate patriotic education into their curriculums.

While Starry Lee Wai-king, the city’s sole representative on the apex body, suggested Hong Kong would not be legally obliged to enforce the new national law, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu expected the city to meet the requirements of the bill with ease.

“The patriotic values are reflected in the conscious awareness of safeguarding national security,” Choi told students, teachers and others from the education sector in Mandarin at an event to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule on Saturday.

“Only by establishing a sense of mission towards the nation, understanding the rights, obligations, and responsibilities that a citizen should have, can one care about the development of the country and consciously safeguard its security.”