The political ideology of China’s leader Xi Jinping could soon be taught to Hong Kong secondary school students, according to curriculum guidelines for new subject Citizenship, Economics and Society.
The new subject, which will be introduced to first-year secondary students when the school year starts next month, highlights the teaching of national security and national identity. On Wednesday, the Education Bureau issued curriculum guidelines for the subject, stating that it should include content related to patriotic education.
“[Patriotic Education] helps students understand the development of our country
and the importance of the close relationship between the Mainland and Hong Kong to
the development of our society, thereby cultivating students’ sense of nationhood,
affection for our country and sense of national identity,” the document reads.
Citing China’s patriotic education law, which came into effect on January 1 and covers Hong Kong and Macau as well as mainland China, the guidelines provide five “examples” of topics for students to learn as part of patriotic education. Among them were: Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, broadly known as Xi Jinping Thought; socialism with Chinese characteristics; and national security and national defence.
Xi Jinping Thought is recommended for third-year secondary students as part of a module called “Our Country’s Political Structure and Its Participation in International Affairs.”
The push for patriotic education has been part of Xi’s ideological campaign, as he has sought to unify and educate members of the Communist Party of China according to his doctrine.
See also: What is ‘Xi Jinping thought’? China’s leader makes the constitution
When asked how much students should learn about Xi Jinping Thought, Ranny Yau, the principle of TWGHs Kap Yan Directors’ College and chairman of a committee responsible for reviewing the new subject, told Ming Pao on Thursday that junior secondary school students were expected to know more about China.
“It is unnecessary to single out and highlight some content that may worry teachers,” Yau said in Cantonese.
Xi Jinping Thought was added to the curriculum from primary schools to graduate programmes in mainland China from 2021.
‘Core values,’ including democracy, dropped
The government announced it would replace Life and Society with a new subject named Citizenship, Economics and Society in 2022.
A document about the Citizenship, Economics and Society subject handed out by the Education Bureau in October 2022 lacked a learning objective including in the Life and Society curriculum: “to understand, appreciate, respect and reflect on the values and attitudes that underpin the local society, including rights and responsibilities, freedom, rule of law, social justice, democracy.”
The new subject also dropped teaching about democracy and the political systems of other countries, with more importance placed on national security and national identity.
However, the bureau did not mention patriotic education, socialism with Chinese characteristics, or Xi Jinping Thought at the time.
Life and Society was introduced to better link up junior students’ knowledge with Liberal Studies, which has since been dropped in favour of Citizenship and Social Development after some pro-Beijing figures said Liberal Studies encouraged young people to take part in the 2019 protests.
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