MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Thank you, President. I am very grateful to Prof LAU Chi-pang for proposing the motion today, which suggests making Chinese History a compulsory subject at the senior secondary level and adding elements of Chinese geography and culture to the subject to cultivate in students a sense of belonging to our country, an affection for the Chinese people and a sense of national identity. I always think the best way to inculcate patriotism is to enable students to have a correct and adequate understanding of Chinese history. That is why I fully agree with Prof LAU’s rationale. However, there are more practical issues to consider regarding the way to achieve the objective.
Currently, there are four senior secondary core subjects, among which Liberal Studies has been replaced by Citizenship and Social Development (“CS”). As a matter of fact, the CS curriculum comprises three major themes, namely “Hong Kong under ‘One Country, Two Systems’”, “Our Country since Reform and Opening-up” and “Interconnectedness and Interdependence of the Contemporary World”, while the Mainland study tour of the subject is linked to the theme of “Chinese Culture and Modern Life”. Their content in fact already includes knowledge about the modern history of China, and Chinese geography and culture. Therefore, there are views that the CS curriculum already contains elements which can enhance students’ sense of belonging to our country and affection for the Chinese people, and if the content is not sufficient, it can be further enriched as appropriate. Given that CS is a new subject, if the objective of today’s motion can be achieved by fine-tuning its curriculum, I believe the Government should consider it.
In addition, some members of the education sector have pointed out that given the tremendous pressure from the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (“HKDSE”) Examination, replacing Liberal Studies with CS has reduced the lesson time significantly from 250 hours to 150 hours and in turn considerably alleviated students’ study and examination stress. This measure has been well received by the education sector, parents and students. If the lesson time freed up is spent on a new compulsory subject, students’ study stress will not be relieved. Besides, schools are now focusing their efforts on CS. They strive to teach the subject properly, get prepared for the first HKDSE CS Examination, and arrange Mainland study tours for students. As schools cannot afford any mistakes in these tasks at all, they are already under massive pressure, so the concerns of the education sector are understandable.
President, I would like to say in particular that in order to cultivate in students a sense of belonging to our country and an affection for the Chinese people, the traditional method of rote learning should not be adopted for any subject whatsoever. Rather, multi-dimensional, flexible and heuristic approaches should be adopted. Teachers should give students care and guidance to arouse their interest in learning. As a matter of fact, the first step has already been taken in relation to CS, for which the grading system of “attained” and “unattained” has been adopted, thus greatly reducing examination stress. Besides, participation in Mainland study tours enables students to gain real-life knowledge outside the classroom. At present, the secondary subject Chinese History and the junior secondary subject Life and Society are rather traditional and academic subjects, requiring students to memorize a lot of information. This rather boring mode of learning is indeed not conducive to engaging students’ interest. In fact, these subjects cover many interesting matters. If schools adopt more soft, flexible and multi-dimensional teaching approaches to minimize rote learning and relieve examination stress, students’ interest will definitely be aroused. If students enjoy learning, they will easily learn what is taught, and naturally develop an affection for the country and the Chinese people from the bottom of their hearts.
Thank you, President.