Beijing Should Help HK Boost National Education: DAB

The DAB party says it will use meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) this month to urge Beijing to help boost national education in Hong Kong.

The SAR's biggest pro-establishment party said on Monday that some young people in the city lack a clear concept of the rule of law, and they don't know enough Chinese history.

The DAB said the fact that many of those arrested since the city's social unrest broke out last June are students shows there's a need to revamp the liberal studies subject, which some people claim has helped "radicalise" Hong Kong children.

Pupils also need to be taught to have better morals and how to respect others, the DAB said.

Earlier in the day, Chief Executive Carrie Lam had also complained in a newspaper interview about the liberal studies subject, as she alleged that some teachers are "poisoning" students with biased information.

Plans for schools to introduce a national education curriculum were shelved in 2012 following mass protests, with opponents claiming the aim of the new, separate lessons would be to brainwash students with Communist Party propaganda.

While the DAB thinks now is the time for this issue to be revisited, its proposals for Beijing this year do not include the introduction of national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

Speculation has been mounting that Beijing has run out of patience when it comes to such legislation being enacted, with liaison office and Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office chiefs warning recently that the city can't be allowed to become a security "loophole".

The DAB's Tam Yiu-chung, who is Hong Kong's sole representative on the NPC Standing Committee, said his party will not bring Article 23 up at the meetings as it's now an issue for the Hong Kong government to work on.

"This is the SAR government's responsibility so we don't need to comment during these annual meetings".

The party has 23 proposals in all, with others including ideas about reclaiming land in waters off Zhuhai to create new towns for Hong Kong people, improving the country's ability to deal with public health crises, enhancing China's friendliness, and a total ban on eating cats and dogs.

The annual meetings of the NPC and CPPCC are to get underway from May 21. The sessions were originally scheduled for March but were postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.