Hong Kong, parents and students do not want "national education"
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) -
The Territory's civil society continues its staunch opposition to the introduction
of "national education" classes imposed by the communist government on
local schools. Ahead
of the next big protest on September 2, organized by teachers' unions and
representatives of parents, a large scale survey shows that 75% of students and
their families are against the introduction of these new courses.
It
all stems from educational reform desired by the Chinese central government in
2002 and launched in 2004. It provides every school - from elementary school
onwards - be prepared for non-defined "classes of National
Education", a topic that should be treated as a separate subject. From
what has so far been said, the subject's aim is to enhance China's great
economic scientific and popular achievements, but silence, for example,
discusses the Tiananmen massacre.
The
first to oppose this reform were Catholics, led by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun,
who has repeatedly denounced this move as an attempt to "brainwash"
young people orchestrated by Beijing.
Now,
the general public is mobilising behind the Church: According to a survey carried out by an
Association of men's and women's clubs, 74% of the students and 77% of parents surveyed
want the government to withdraw the subject from schools and resume
consultations with all
parties involved before resubmitting it.
According
to the survey, the majority of students would ask the government (if they were able
to) to introduce the Tiananmen massacre among the topics covered in these
classes. Lam
Wai-man, a member of the parents association, said: " I worry whether it's
because the government has policies it wants to launch, but it wants to educate
us first." The
subject will become mandatory, according to the time limits imposed by the
central government in 2015.
Meanwhile,
a hunger strike by 80 high school students continues. The
young people are camped out in the government district of Admiralty. They greeted
the visit by the head of the Executive Leung Chun-ying with scepticism and
irony, as "a stunt" and stressed that the government "respects
neither the parents nor the students and not even teachers. "
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