'Law-abidingness', Empathy Now Core Values At School

The Education Bureau has made what it called “law-abidingness” and “empathy” core values for all local schools, and has directed primary and secondary institutions to strengthen the implementation of “values education” on campus.

A spokesman said schools were informed of the new policy in a memo issued on Thursday.

“We expect the next generation of Hong Kong to act righteously, have a broad knowledge base, be able to demonstrate skills such as rational thinking, ethical judgment and effective communication skills,” said a spokesman from the bureau.

“[We also expect students] to be socially responsible and equipped with a sense of national identity, love for Hong Kong, and international perspectives,” he added

The bureau pointed out that it was taking on a recommendation by the Curriculum Development Council to include the two aspects of “law-abidingness” and empathy for students to understand that it is their duty to comply with the law and maintain social order.

The council had also said students should respect different views to help create a “harmonious and caring society.”

However, the president of the Professional Teachers’ Union, Fung Wai-wah, accused the policy change of being “politically-motivated”, noting that students already learn such values in the existing curriculum.

“In the past year, those people from the establishment camp, the government, actually claimed that students are not actually quite abiding by the law, also they’re not ready to respect different opinions,” said Fung.

Fung said he was also worried about how schools may interpret the memo.

"If they just teach students to follow legal considerations as the only considerations while making decisions, it is not quite appropriate. And also for empathy if they just emphasise that they have to respect the opinions of the pro-establishment camp or from the government's view i think it may be one-sided," he said.