Leung declines full withdrawal of MNE as city is 'free and pluralist'

Withdrawal of the Moral and National Education program (MNE) from schools would be the equivalent of prohibiting schools from implementing the subject, even though they may wish to incorporate it into their curriculum, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (CE) said on Tuesday. An edict such as that, contended the CE, would not comply with Hong Kong's spirit as a free and pluralistic society.

"Those who request withdrawal of the subject, should think about what withdrawal means. The government has already decided it is up to the school to decide when and whether to implement the subject, and the content of teaching manuals once the course is implemented," said Leung.

Leung urged opponents of the course of study, to read carefully through the government's two important announcements on the subject, made during the past three days, and not dwell on the past impression of the subject.

Leung made his appeal to university students and teachers who staged a boycott of classes over the implementation of the subject on Tuesday and who published a full-page advertisement in newspapers declaring opposition to the teaching of the subject.

The Education Bureau on Monday issued a statement, saying the government will "take out immediately the parts of the curriculum guide on contemporary China and the related assessment" from the subject materials.

In the meantime, the Curriculum Development Council, chaired by Kenneth Young, former vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, will review "critically, the controversial parts of the curriculum guide" and make further recommendations to the bureau. The discussion will include the community's concern on the assessment aspect of "affective dimension", views on curriculum planning, as well as whether the related content of MNE could be included in other subjects such as Chinese history in the event that schools decide not to implement MNE as an independent subject.

Prior to the statement, Leung also announced on Saturday that the government had heard the appeal of opponents and would withdraw the so-called "deadline" for implementation - the three year initiation period for the subject.

"The decision was not made overnight. We have kept listening to all parties' opinions for the past few days. My colleagues in the Education Bureau, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, and I have continued to listen to the public, therefore, we decided to give the authority to the schools to decide when and how they would like to introduce the subject," said Leung on Saturday.

The Committee on the Implementation of Moral and National Education, chaired by Anna Wu Hung-yuk, met briefly on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the background to the implementation of the subject. A formal meeting will be held at the end of this month. That meeting will discuss whether the resource allocation and academic assessment by the bureau are likely to affect a school's decision to go ahead with teaching the subject. When asked whether the section on contemporary China in the curriculum guide, already taken out by the bureau, is likely to have filtered into others parts of the guide, Wu said the public would easily detect it if it happened.

In May, the Education Bureau issued a circular memorandum to all primary, secondary and special schools, directing them to implement the subject within three years starting from this school year.

The decision met with fierce opposition from teachers; the student activist group, Scholarism; the Parents' Concern group and students. In late August, the government established the committee to promote further discussion of controversial parts of the subject.

On the other hand, opponents staged a hunger strike and a 10-day sit-in at government headquarters at Tamar.

The committee invited opponents to join the committee for a more reasoned deliberation, but the opposition groups rejected the invitation.

The demonstrators left the government headquarters after Leung's Saturday announcement of removing the deadline for implementation.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 09/12/2012 page1)