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#Education #FailedState
HK Governmentd Makes #LiberalStudies a Scapegoat for Social Discontent

Hong Kong's Education Bureau (#HKEB) announced on Nov 26, 2020 their plans to reform Liberal Studies, including changing the grading to a pass/fail system, and requiring student to join a study tour to China.

Former lawmaker of the education sector Ip Kin-yuen criticized the proposed curriculum reform for covering up government failures in handling the social discontent about the extradition bill and shifting blame onto Liberal Studies for making students "radical".

He added that the proposed change is apparently putting political consideration above educational professionalism, with a goal to weaken students' critical thinking by inserting politically correct elements.

Ip pointed out that the government also ignores the review report published by the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum in September 2020.

The Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said that the unit "Hong Kong Today" in Liberal Studies is not for news discussion; whereas Ip stressed that Liberal Studies teaches news-relevant topics including personal development, society and globalization.

"There is no reason to ban the discussions of current affairs," Ip said. He described the government's plan as an act of setting up new limitations for education, and slammed the exclusion of news discussions.

Source: Stand News #Nov26

#IpKinYuen #YeungYunHung #HongKongToday #Curriculum #EducationBureau #Censorship #Brainwashing
We fight hard for the future generation in Hong Kong but their freedom is diminishing by the day. We fear for the future and the brainwashing that will occur in this coming generation of HK children.

#brainwashing #politicaloppression #GoHKGraphics #HKEducation
#Sinicization
Hong Kong Government Requires All Schools to Hold Weekly Flag-Raising Ceremonies and Sing Chinese Anthem

The Hong Kong government's #EducationBureau on October 11, 2021 announced that all schools in Hong Kong must hold flag-raising ceremonies every week and on special occasions starting January 1, 2022.

The government's guidelines stated that the Chinese national anthem should be played and sung at the ceremonies.

Moreover, the Chinese national flag should be raised in school every day. If there are enough flagpoles, then the Hong Kong SAR flag should also be raised.

The government also "advised" kindergartens to carry out the instructions if facility allows, while international schools and private schools were "encouraged" to follow the guidelines.

Source: InMedia #Oct11
https://bit.ly/3Auwhob

#ChineseAnthem #ChineseFlag #FlagRaising #1C1S #Education #School #Nationalization #Brainwashing
#Brainwashing #Education
Universities in Hong Kong to Implement Courses on Modern China and National Security


Under the #NationalSecurityLaw (#NSL), educationsl institutions in Hong Kong were requested to implement national security education.

Universities like the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (#PolyU), the Hong Kong Baptist University (#HKBU), the Hong Kong Education University (#EdUHK) and the Hong Kong Lingnan University (#HKLU) have followed the government order.

Recently, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK) has reportedly amended their core curriculum for the next academic year.

CUHK will open online courses on "Understanding China Today", and "National Security" starting from the next academic year. Each of them takes account to 1 credit.

CUHK confirms InMedia's enquiry and claimed that the new courses aimed to "strengthen students' knowledge [...] to understand national security". The courses were authorised by the University's academic council; however, no curriculum details have been revealed.

According to the documents InMedia received, the course titled "Understanding China Today" touched upon the modernization of China and technological development, in addition to Chinese culture and history. In addition to national security education, other online courses cover positive psychology and modern language. Each of the course takes account to 1 credit.

The University called it "Service Learning" and requires students to take at least one of thrse 1-credit courses.

CUHK replies to InMedia that the university would launcb national security education in accordance with Article 10 of the NSL. The university also said that they have already rolled out a number of policies and activities to "increase students' national belonging". Orientation activities include theme talks about national security and media literacy; courses contain a talk regarding "international circumstances and China's diplomacy"; graduates career workshops consist of #BasicLaw.

Source: Inmedia #Jan18
https://bit.ly/3nwAVhB

#Propaganda #Regime #University
China Schools Teach Students to "Correctly" Understand Ukraine Crisis; Taiwanese Scholars Warn of CCP Legitimizing Aggression on Taiwan

Schools across China are hosting lesson planning workshops for their teachers, so that they can teach students to "correctly understand" the recent developments in Ukraine.

A notice from Shandong education department noted that these workshops are intended for teachers of "political thinking classes", to help them "correctly understand the principles, position, and line to take" regarding the Ukraine crisis, so that they can "guide the thoughts" of their students.

These courses are hosted by The "Hand-in-Hand Lesson Preparation Center for National Ideological and Political Classes".

Chinese Scholars: Can't Judge Russia-Ukraine crisis as Simply Right or Wrong

In one such workshop in Shanxi, a teacher asked how to educate primary and secondary school students in international relations, and how to answer questions regarding whether Russia's war against Ukraine is justified.

Answering the question was professor Xia Yong-Lin from Xidian University's School of Humanities. He said that the Russia-Ukraine crisis cannot "be judged as simply right or wrong": "under the American-led international order, in an environment [filled with] arrogant hegemony and hysteria without fairness, it is meaningless to get caught up in questions of justice."

Liu Li-Bo, Vice-chair of the School of Maxism at Shaanxi Normal University, emphasized proactively instill thoughts that are in line with mainstream ideology and national policy. "If students in primary and secondary schools were led astray, it's difficult to straighten them up again."

Professor Wang Yong-Zhi Northwest University added that teachers must make the connection with national revival. Teachers must clearly tell students that China is facing the greatest challenge since its economic reform, and the country needs students to have an even greater sense of nationalism and responsibility.

CCP Aims to Legitimize Future Taiwan Invasion, Taiwanese Scholars warns

In Taiwan, Wang Zhi-Sheng, Secretary General of China Asia-Pacific Elite Exchange Association, pointed out two objectives for China's systematic and unified indoctrination of its "truth" of the Ukrainian conflict. For one, they aimed to whitewash Russia's aggression and drum up support in China. The more concerning objective, however, was to portray Russia's situation as being "backed into a corner" before taking military action; this implied that China may also be "backed into a corner" in the future, and become "forced" to use its military against Taiwan.

Lin Xian-Shen, head of the Department of East Asian Studies at National Taiwan Normal University, pointed out that Putin's narrative considers Ukraine to be part of Russia. Similarly, the Chinese Communist Party considered Taiwan to be part of China, and could thus use the same justifications to rally popular support for aggression against Taiwan. If the Chinese people supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it would naturally also support a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, he said.

Sources:
Ming Pao
https://news.mingpao.com/pns/中國/article/20220326/s00013/1648232383800/多省學校教「正確」認識烏局勢

Liberty Times
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3883445

#Ukraine #RussianInvasion #Brainwashing #MinistryOfTruth
Hong Kong prisons work to compel loyalty to China among young activists

The day begins with goose-stepping. In the prison yards of juvenile facilities across Hong Kong, young men and women practice the form of marching used by the Chinese military, kicking their legs up high as guards yell out commands.

In their mud-colored uniforms, the prisoners look almost indistinguishable from military recruits. But before they were detained, these inmates were foot soldiers in Hong Kong’s fight for greater democratic freedoms.

Arrested for their involvement in the 2019 mass protests that saw almost a third of the population take to the streets, the detainees are now the latest subjects in China’s decades-long experiment in political control. The goal is to “deradicalize” them, echoing efforts honed by Beijing from the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters up to the forced detention and reeducation of Uyghur Muslims, though the Hong Kong version is not on the industrial scale of the repression in Xinjiang.

The deradicalization program includes pro-China propaganda lectures and psychological counseling that leads to detainees confessing to holding extreme views, and it is accompanied by a system of close monitoring and punishment, including solitary confinement, inside the juvenile facilities, former prisoners and guards said. As of April 30, 871 juvenile inmates had participated in the program, the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department (CSD) said, about 70 percent of them charged in connection with the 2019 protests. Some are as young as 14.

Hong Kong officials have refused to provide any specifics about what deradicalization — or “targeted rehabilitation,” as they call it — entails. But The Washington Post spoke to 10 former juvenile prisoners and three prisoners formerly held in adult facilities, all arrested in connection with the 2019 protests, as well as two former employees at the CSD who described the program and how it has evolved over the past year. All spoke under the condition of anonymity or only wanted their first name used for fear of repercussions, including additional prison time or retaliation from the authorities.

The ultimate objective, according to a former prison guard, is to create a feeling of hopelessness among prisoners, deterring the youngest former protesters from activism or even seeing a future in Hong Kong.

“It was explicitly said to us that by the end of their sentence, the goal is to ensure the desire of these inmates to continue doing political stuff is less and less, and that they instead look for ways to leave Hong Kong,” said the former prison guard.

One former prisoner, Leo, said: “What really slowly wears down your will to fight is the everyday living in prison … [being] targeted, oppressed, silenced.”

“This is the brainwashing that happens 24 hours a day,” he said.

Full article from Washington Post #Jun08:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/deradicalization-hong-kong-democracy-activists/

#AntiELAB #PrisonerRights #Deradicalization #Brainwashing