Spending 25 Percent Lesson Time on Patriotism

Children will spend more class time on patriotic education

Hong Kong parents who have taken their children out of the local school system to be educated overseas must be breathing a sigh of relief they did the right thing.

That's because the Education Bureau has asked (not directed) primary schools to spend up to one-quarter of the study time towards patriotism and national security during the six years of primary education.

Topics to be covered include "the understanding of Chinese culture, the constitution, Basic Law and national security education".

Authorities also recommended organising "cross-disciplinary" exchange visits to mainland China.

This is the first change in the curriculum in eight years. A bureau spokesman said there was a need to update the primary curriculum guide to "enhance student learning", and noted the ones for kindergarten and secondary school had been updated in 2017.

There are seven learning goals, but the first and main one is to "understand our country and the Chinese culture, and cultivate a sense of belonging and national identity towards our country through national education and national security education".

In order to teach all this information, schools are to set side up to 25 percent of the 4,752 hours of lesson time during the six primary school years for organising activities to brush up their understanding of the constitution, the Basic Law and national security.

That time will be cut into lesson time for learning the Chinese and English languages, as well as mathematics.

As a parent this must be infuriating to know that precious class time is being squandered on national education, training young children to parrot Communist ideas and beliefs.

Perhaps there will be a continued spike in students leaving the city later this year?