Literary Inquisition (Speech Crime) imposed by Hong Kong Education Bureau; Primary school teacher: red tape is everywhere, endangering teaching extremely

(Photo: A piece of a worksheet is more than enough to subjugate teachers; disqualifying teachers is a literary inquisition, just quoting textbooks can still be criticized as “crossing red lines”)

A primary school teacher was accused of committing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP( National Security offence, just because he has touched on the topic of Hong Kong Independence in his class.  His teaching qualification and a license was revoked, which shocked the whole education industry. Another primary school General Studies teacher argued that quoting news as materials for General Studies is common and the revocation was indeed a punishment for speech crime, a literary Inquisition.  After the incident, many schools run self-censorship to avoid crossing the red lines, by stopping to use news for teaching.  “There are no objective standards to follow. It endangers educators extremely as quoting textbooks and news is sufficient to be deemed crossing the CCP red lines”, said the teacher.

Primary schools used to quote news for coaching students. The worksheet was not designed for spreading the idea of Hong Kong Independence. 

Mr CHAN has been working in a caput school as a General Studies teacher for 7 years. CHAN said that it is common for caput schools’ teachers to quote news as real-life examples to corroborate theories during lessons, in order to enlighten students to apply the theories from textbooks to reality.  It could also help primary school students to get well prepared for secondary school group interviews and current affairs discussion.  Primary school teachers usually design schedules based on the syllabus at beginning of each semester and based on recent current affairs, pick topics and news weekly for class discussions. 

CHAN added, in past and current syllabus (not sure if it will be still allowed in future), primary 5 and 6 General Studies classes will cover topics about community and constitutional development, as well as civil duties and rights.  Freedom of speech, assembly and press are all commonly touched upon with students, together with relevant news and current affairs from newspapers, LegCo Members’ speech, City Forum and Hong Kong Connection (both programs directed by the RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong) etc.  From these new sources, content usually includes government’s negligence or misconducts, criticism of injustice and the idea that “Hong Kong people enjoy the freedom of speech”.  CHAN had quoted topic of “overbudgeting and delay of construction of the High-Speed Rail”, together with voices from different stakeholders, for class discussions before.

For this case, CHAN and other teachers thought the worksheet could be improved with more points for the affirmative side, negative side, and the government official stance.  This could provide more information from different angles for students to understand and analyze.  However, for the purpose of feeding students with more news and current affairs, the objective had been achieved by the worksheet (as a summary made by teacher) as resources and time are always limited.  In conclusion, the worksheet was not intended for spreading Hong Kong Independence.

Urgent meetings in schools to stop quoting news, to stay away from the red lines

The Hong Kong Education Bureau leader YANG Wei-Hsiung Nicholas had commented that the contents of the worksheet are complicated for primary school students (so not competent to present it in this case).  CHAN criticized it is funny – patriotism (actually is pro-CCP) and government-supporting educations are appropriate for all levels students; criticisms on government and anything threatening the regime are overly complicated for children.  Starting from the conclusion of “spreading Hong Kong Independence systematically” drawn by the CCP’s authorities, literary Inquisition has been imposed in Hong Kong. CHAN commented, “is it secession if I coach students national flags and dressing of other countries?”  Whatever topic can touch CCP’s red lines and be an excused used for penalizing teachers, and the red lines keep changing every day.

Immediate after the case, many schools had internal meetings instructing teachers to stop quoting news in classes.  For example, discussing US President Donald TRUMP being infected by Wuhan Pneumonia may stimulate different parties to have political thought.  Even worse, history topics like Hong Kong Colonial times are also removed from the syllabus. Actually, such self-censorship has been operating back to the early stage of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement (Mid 2019), schools were hesitant to provide the full picture to students but just simply told them “it was driven by a murder case happened in Taiwan” – everyone fears to be the next one being criminalized for exercising the right of speech.

No way to the complaint; feeling hopeless for Hong Kong education

CHAN further shared that quite a few teachers are worried about students interpreting class materials differently to their parents, endangering them to be alleged crossing the red lines, especially in the e-classes.  CHAN: “how can I be a teacher anymore?  Direct quote from textbooks could be an 'evidence' for crossing CCP’s red lines.” Another issue is self-censorship, causing teachers to not discuss topics in details with students, but just feed students with theories.

This case shocked the education industry much, and many teachers feel indignant and dissatisfactory on the conclusion, including CHAN, “but what we can do and how to fight against the Hong Kong government?  We don’t have a vote for the Chief Executive and freedom of speech!”  More so, CHAN may be in fear – just a piece of the worksheet can get rid of a teacher forever, “I feel hopeless about Hong Kong education.”

Source: Apple Daily, 8 October 2020

https://hk.appledaily.com/local/20201008/3YWKDVGHTRHBDL4546USPOOC6Y/