Primary schools to teach national security law

Eunice Lam

Primary school pupils will learn about the national security law, the Basic Law and the one country, two systems principle in a new humanities subject starting from the 2025-26 school year.

This follows Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announcing in last month's policy address the replacement of the general studies subject by humanities and science.

Announcing the humanities curriculum framework yesterday, the Education Bureau pointed to it being in line with patriotic education, and it is based mostly on the current general studies subject.

Alongside the national security law, China's anti-poverty and aerospace achievements will form part of the syllabus.

The subject's six modules span national education, health care, environment, money management, citizenship and globalization.

Students will get to know about the national security law and the PLA in Hong Kong.

Paul Lee Kin-wan, the bureau's chief curriculum development officer for kindergarten and primary schools, said primary one and two pupils have at least 64 humanities classes annually.

That will be equivalent to about 37 hours every year.

And primary three to six pupils will have at least 96 sessions, or over 56 hours. Pupils will learn too about China's development, including urbanization, transport and efforts in combating desertification.

Paul Lee also said national security education in primary schools is not new, but training will be provided for teachers.

"There are very important elements in the humanities subject that are related to national education," he said. "We will also enrich the curriculum from time to time so students will not lose touch with the world.

Indeed, Lee said, it is fundamental that primary students should learn about "remarkable achievements of our country in recent years. It will be not ideal if a primary school student has no understanding of their own country after six years of study."

He said enhancing the elements of Chinese culture, the nation's history and geography can cultivate students' sense of belonging to the country, national sentiment and national identity systematically at a young age.

Along with the new science subject, schools can start teaching the new curriculum from next September.

Both new subjects will become part of the syllabus in primary one and four from 2025-26, primary two and five from 2026-27, and be fully implemented in all six grades in the 2027-28 school year. The bureau introduced the curriculum framework of primary science this month.

Students will learn about basic life science, fundamental theories of physics and aerospace knowledge, including the weather, Earth's history and the solar system, and acquire experience in building engineering models.

Asked if the two new subjects would create more homework, the chief curriculum development officer for science, William Lam Wai-lim, said the Education Bureau is considering scrapping science exams for primary one and two pupils.

That proposal came after listening to opinions from the education sector.

The bureau will also offer each subsidized school a one-off subsidy of HK$350,000 by the end of March.

Schools can use it to buy teaching materials, enhance facilities and support teachers' professional development.

A training camp will be set up for science teachers to offer two certificate programs for those who would like to teach it, Lam said. The camp is expected to train some 1,500 teachers in the first year.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com