Rebooting national education to restore identity

Hong Kong's education system is at the crossroads - one that's fraught with challenges as the new administration of the special administrative region grapples to mend a system mired in controversy in the past two decades. Deng Yanzi reports.

While Hong Kong's competitive, often stressful education network has been widely chastised as an impediment to innovate over the years, scholars and industry stakeholders are on the same page that rebooting national education will not only help put the system back on track, it will inculcate an imbued sense of identity among the younger generation and perk up Hong Kong's cherished status as a center of learning.

They admitted that "remarkable" achievements have been made since China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over the city in 1997.

Educator Wong Kwan-yu thinks that the local education sector has demonstrated both "immense achievements" and "huge problems" since 1997. Provided to China Daily

Wong Kwan-yu, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, agreed that the local education sector has demonstrated "immense achievements" and, at the same time, "huge problems" since 1997.

Generally, he said, the SAR government has attached much greater importance to education than the British colonial government.

"Education is the key to the future of Hong Kong," Hong Kong's first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said at the ceremony marking the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR on July 1, 1997.

"It provides a level playing field for all, and the human resources required for further economic development," he said.

The first Hong Kong SAR Government led by Tung wasted no time soon after taking office, giving education a shot in the arm by setting up a HK$5 billion Quality Education Fund in January 1998 to improve and encourage innovation in primary and secondary schools. It boosted the ratio of education expenditure in the city's gross domestic product from 3.2 percent in 1997 to 4.4 percent in 2001.

In contrast, under the British colonial administration, government expenditure on education had largely remained below that level, barely reaching 3 percent of GDP between 1970 and 1997, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department.

To further benefit the city's populace after the handover, nine years of free education have been expanded to 12 years by former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen since 2008.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, in his last Policy Address earlier this year, proposed extending that period to 15 years.

Higher education has also been made more accessible to the public since 2001 through the provision of sub-degree courses, which raised the number of higher education places for secondary school students from 18 percent to 70 percent.

"In the past, secondary school leavers had only one way to go. They now have more opportunities," Wong remarked.

History is the key

Ho Hon-kuen, who heads education concern group - Education Convergence, concurred that Tung's government had outperformed the British colonial administration with increased education resources and improved transparency in running schools although he pointed out that the government's early education policies had not been without flaws.

He said that the government's oversight on national education in the first few years after the handover had led to a confusion of identity among Hong Kong people, exacerbated by a backlash against the planned introduction of national education courses.

He noted that Chinese history - an important channel for Hong Kong people, particularly the younger generation, to understand the country - had been "cut up" and merged into other subjects by some middle and high schools, a move he described as "hasty and troublesome".

"It's a miracle we did have a peaceful transfer to 'one country, two systems' in 1997. But, the (society) seemed to have overstressed the 'two systems' in education and failed to respond to the 'one country' part of the principle, which was dangerous," Ho told China Daily.

He called for Chinese history to be made an independent subject for students and national education to be given full play in Hong Kong.

"If we don't reinforce national education, we're only creating a centrifugal force that pulls away our youths," Ho warned.

Wong also agreed that Hong Kong had missed the best timing to introduce Chinese history as a subject in schools immediately after the handover, and the government now has to deal with a wave of populism that would not be of much help.

"Populism is not the way to decide on such issues as what subjects should be taught in schools. We must respect the views of scholars and education experts in making these decisions rather than everyone raising their hands," he said.

Wong believed that telling the history from Hong Kong's angle is the key to approaching Chinese history, while lamenting that national education has been "stigmatized", making it even more urgent for the government to come to grips with the problem.

"It's not in the interest of students to be prejudiced against their own country, and it's their right to understand the country better. The government has the responsibility to deal with the controversy."

The issue obviously hasn't gone unnoticed. Incoming leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has vowed to make education a top priority in her governance. Due to take office on July 1, she has pledged to spend an additional HK$5 billion as recurrent expenditure on education to make up for the government's insufficient investment in the sector in recent years, with spending having dipped to 3.3 percent in 2015.

Educationists have welcomed Lam's move, and hoped that the new administration would be more generous.

"The government should understand that education is an investment, not expenditure. Eventually, it will give it back to society," Ho said.

"Spending money is necessary but, what's more important is evaluating and measuring its outcome and use, through which we can develop education in a sustainable way," said Shirley Yeung Mo-ching, director of Centre for Corporate Sustainability and Innovations, Hang Seng Management College.

She urged the government to consider what sort of talents it would like to cultivate, and do a rethink on the curriculum to prepare the talents the city needs for its future labor market.

"We have to identify the gap between our students and market needs. Uncertainties abound in our future development and, to build up the abilities our students need, the government should also focus on human resources apart from funding," Yeung said.

Mainland link

The increased exchanges of talents and education resources, meanwhile, have helped local students to better adapt themselves to the ever-changing external environment.

The growing political, economic and cultural links between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland have brought students from both sides closer by integrating the strengths of their educational spheres.

Furthering their studies at institutions of higher learning on the mainland has become the norm for Hong Kong youths. According to the city's Education Bureau, there were more than 15,000 Hong Kong students enrolled at universities and graduate schools on the mainland as of October 2015.

Supportive policies from the authorities on both sides have fortified the exchange of talents in the past two decades, including the mutual recognition of higher education degrees from 2004. Hong Kong went the extra mile in 2008 by granting mainland students a one-year stay in the SAR after their graduation from local institutions.

A scholarship program launched by the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1998 laid the foundation for the SAR's reception of talents by bringing in dozens of outstanding mainland students to Hong Kong universities.

The number of mainland students studying in the SAR's universities has soared in the past few years, reaching 11,890 in the 2015-16 school year under government-funded programs, and 14,981 in the 2014-15 school year under self-funded programs, according to latest statistics from the University Grants Committee and the Security Bureau.

Ho identified education as Hong Kong's edge in the innovative implementation of "one country, two systems", confident that the city will remain an alluring education destination.

In retrospect, he has mixed feelings about Hong Kong's growth path in the past 20 years - contented with its economic and political progress but distressed at the loss of its social identities.

"For the latter, the panacea will be through education," he said.

Contact the writer at iris@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 07/02/2017 page11)