Badly needed education reform must continue
Regina Ip says city must have a shared vision of a system that supports ‘one country, two systems' principle and gives youngsters the ability to succeed in the 21st century
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government cannot be faulted for not spending enough on education. In 2021-22, the government expenditure on education soared to HK$110.9 billion ($14.28 billion), representing a 26.7 percent increase compared to the HK$87.5 billion spent in 2017-18, and a whopping 146 percent increase compared to the HK$45 billion spent in 1997-98.
With abundant resources available, the education attainment of Hong Kong people increased significantly. The government's 2016 by-census found that from 2006 to 2016, the proportion of the Hong Kong population aged 15 or above who received secondary and higher secondary education rose from 74.6 percent to 80 percent, while the proportion who received a postsecondary education expanded from 23 percent to 32.7 percent during the same 10-year period.
Where higher education is concerned, the Task Force on Self-financing Post-secondary Education found, in its report published in December 2018, that the participation rate in postsecondary education of secondary school leavers reached 70 percent in 2015-16, including 45 percent at the degree level.
Measured in purely quantitative terms, the government deserves ample praise for its support for education. However, the actual outcomes, as reflected by the involvement of large numbers of teachers and students in national security and other criminal offenses in the past two years, tell an utterly disappointing story.
As police statistics indicate, roughly a quarter of the over 10,000 people arrested in connection with the anti-government riots in 2019 were students, some as young as 12. Over 100 teachers were arrested.
Recent events further highlight the deep moral crisis and political confusion in which some Hong Kong students have become entangled. On May 1, five students in Tai Po, aged 14-17, were arrested for burglary of a jewelry store. On May 5, the police arrested four people who attempted to break into a school in Tseung Kwan O. Those arrested include two students of that school. The police found in the homes of two of the suspects materials belonging to a students' group actively involved in promoting Hong Kong independence during the 2019 riots.
The problems with national and moral education were aggravated by the senior secondary school curriculum reform hatched in 2000. Based on a report on "Reform Proposals for the Education System in Hong Kong — Lifelong Learning and All-round Development", published by the Education Commission in 2000, the education authorities started to sharply reduce the study of Chinese culture and Chinese history by senior secondary students. The four "core subjects" of the new senior secondary school curriculum — Chinese language, English language, mathematics and liberal studies — implemented in 2009 led to a sharp drop in the number of students who study Chinese history and Chinese literature.
Statistics published by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority show that of the 50,809 students who took the Diploma of Secondary Education Examinations in 2020, only 5,296 had studied Chinese history, and a meager 1,260 had studied Chinese literature. That means, since 2009, our education system has produced large numbers of secondary school students devoid of an in-depth understanding of our national history, and appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of China.
It is hard for young people to identify with our nation when they have so little understanding of how the Chinese civilization has developed over thousands of years, how the Chinese race has thrived despite multiple challenges, and the tremendous efforts the ruling Party has put into modernizing China in the past 100 years.
To make matters worse, the compulsory liberal studies subject, which was taken by 43,839 students in 2020, with its wide ambit and lack of approved textbooks and reference materials for teaching "Modern China" and "Hong Kong Today", has become a vehicle for anti-China textbooks writers and teachers to smear China and to spread disinformation about our constitutional and political systems. Students were brainwashed into developing disaffection, and, in some cases, even antipathy toward our nation, and a false notion of the possibility of Hong Kong becoming an independent political entity. Fake ideas about Western systems were taught, with the result that many students were lulled into believing that human rights and personal liberties are absolute (which they are not, in accordance with the principles laid down in leading international rights covenants), and that the individual has a right to press his or her claims and entitlements in complete disregard of law and order and the welfare of the entire society.
The damaging impact of the new senior secondary school curriculum became so obvious in the wake of the 2019 riots that education authorities had to step into the breach to rectify past errors. In response to the public outcry about the misguided contents of the curriculum, the Education Bureau on March 31 announced measures to "optimize" the teaching of the core subjects. In the case of the Chinese language subject, the test of proficiency in spoken Cantonese would be dispensed with, and the teaching of classical texts and Chinese literature would be strengthened. The liberal studies subject will be renamed "Citizenship and Social Development", and contents streamlined to release time for mainland study opportunity.
Chinese history has been a core subject for junior secondary school, but much effort still needs to be made to make the subject interesting and attractive to young people, and to encourage more senior secondary students to take the subject.
The "streamlining" of the teaching of Chinese language and revamp of the liberal studies subject are steps in the right direction. But success would still be contingent on execution — the provision of textbooks and teaching materials which would cultivate a proper sense of identity with China and appreciation of the important role played by the leadership in modernizing the country, in supporting Hong Kong and in buttressing the global order.
As the classroom is ultimately controlled by teachers, upskilling and reorientation of teachers is paramount. All stakeholders in education must be reunited to support a shared vision of the education system we need for Hong Kong — a "fit for purpose" system that supports and strengthens Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" principle that will equip the next generation of young people with the skills and capabilities to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Education has a transformative impact on society. Hong Kong must seize this new opportunity for reform to take it to the next level of development.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
Measured in purely quantitative terms, the government deserves ample praise for its support for education. However, the actual outcomes, as reflected by the involvement of large numbers of teachers and students in national security and other criminal offenses in the past two years, tell an utterly disappointing story.