Students stand at attention during a flag-raising ceremony at a school in Tung Chung, Hong Kong, on National Security Education Day, April 15, 2021. (RAYMOND CHAN / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will sponsor the city’s senior secondary students to take mainland study tours in a bid to help them gain first-hand understanding of the country and its development, understand and appreciate Chinese culture and develop their sense of national identity, the city’s Education Bureau revealed.
READ MORE: Rethink, readjust and restart national education campaign
The program is an integral part of the Citizenship and Social Development curriculum, which is compulsory for senior secondary students and was implemented from secondary 4 in the 2021/22 school year. A total of 21 routes, ranging from two to five days in provinces like Fujian, Guangdong and Hunan, will be offered to students, who are required to present what they have learned and their self-reflections after the study tours.
Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said in order to allow students to gain first-hand understanding of the country’s culture and history, as well as its development, the bureau, in a special arrangement, is adding mainland study tours to the Citizenship and Social Development curriculum
In a post on social media, Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said in order to allow students to gain first-hand understanding of the country’s culture and history, as well as its development, the bureau, in a special arrangement, is adding mainland study tours to the Citizenship and Social Development curriculum.
The tours offered include visits to museum in memory of the Opium War and the original site of the Huangpu Military Academy, China’s first modern military academy which was founded over 90 years ago, Choi revealed.
Choi also expressed hopes that the pandemic would end soon so that the tours can be arranged swiftly.
The bureau, in a written reply to China Daily, said the study tours will start when the pandemic situation eases and quarantine-free travel is resumed, adding that the arrangements may be adjusted according to the situation.
The bureau issued a circular to the city’s schools on Thursday, requiring them to submit a form indicating their preferred times and routes for mainland study tours in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 school years before July 29 this year.
ALSO READ: HK urged to beef up national education among youngsters
The two- and three-day tours are mostly of Guangdong province or Macao, and include visits to cultural and historical sites in Guangzhou and Dongguan, a tech tour of Huizhou, an environmental protection tour of Heyuan, an art and culture tour of Macao and Zhuhai and a culture heritage tour of Kaiping. Four-day tours are of cultural and historical sites in Fujian province, which is part of the Maritime Silk Road. The five-day options include trips to Hunan province and Guizhou province.
The bureau said that schools won’t be able to change their plans, in principle, once the forms are submitted, in view of the large volume of coordination and liaison work involved in arranging such tours. The bureau will confirm arrangements with schools three to four months in advance of tours. It will also strive to ensure the preferred times and routes chosen by the schools are arranged.