Fraught with controversy from the day it was proposed, national education is still facing many hurdles in Hong Kong. With one-third of primary schools refusing to implement it in September, it is not uncommon to hear calls for a boycott.
The Education Bureau said primary schools had until 2015 and secondary schools until 2016 to introduce weekly sessions on national education. The decision followed a public outcry last year over the consultation draft of the curriculum guidelines, criticised by many for their negligible mention of democracy and human rights. A revised version, released in May, was generally seen as a marked improvement.