HK MNE Committee to report its findings on the controversy to CE by the end of Sept

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the head of the committee on introducing Moral and National Education (MNE) to HK schools said scrapping the controversial subject remains a possible option.

"The flexibilities are all there, including whether or not it should be continued," Anna Wu Hung-yuk, chairwoman of the Committee on the Implementation of Moral & National Education of HK, told a press briefing on Thursday.

HK Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (CE) said the government is willing to communicate with all parties, and is not intending to "brainwash" the students by introducing MNE.

In response to hunger strikes and class boycotts which demand the withdrawal of MNE, he said the government understands the requests, but maintained there are still many possibilities to be discussed, including scrapping the subject. Leung repeated his earlier reassurance that he has instructed police to tolerate demonstrators at the protest area while maintaining order. "We have not had any plans to evict them at all."

Wu said the committee's terms of reference are open and all discussions and recommendations would be included in the committee's report to the CE, after their first meeting by the end of this month.

The committee, set up at the end of last month, was originally assigned to study the difficulties of introducing the new curriculum and to screen teaching materials.

She said senior government officials had confirmed previously that her committee has been given wide and flexible power to discuss any option. That includes whether or not the subject should be withdrawn, and whether the subject should be taught independently - or whether the deadline for implementation should be extended beyond the current three-year initiation period.

Wu stressed that the committee's report could influence the government's final decision, significantly.

She added that she hoped staunch opponents would join in the discussion and work to find common ground, so the committee could forward its initial recommendations. If opponents refuse to join the committee, she said she will listen to their views at any platform they prefer.

Wu said schools have their own discretion to decide when and how to introduce MNE to students over the three-year initiation period.

"I have, in the past, felt that we need to respect the teachers in their teaching, as well as, most importantly, the autonomy of schools to deal with this issue and to decide how to teach this particular course," Wu told the media.

"I also hope we can secure further funding from government to establish a final platform for different parties and parents to apply for funding to draw up different teaching content."

She blamed teaching materials published by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers for misleading the public in the first place.

Wu also doesn't think the students, who have camped outside government headquarters in Admiralty since last Thursday, are being used as political pawns.

Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man said MNE doesn't carry any mission or target behind its implementation, adding he believed the subject's content won't "brainwash" students as the critics claim.

HK Education Bureau representatives sent out invitations to three anti-MNE groups outside government headquarters, urging them to join the committee on Thursday.

In an effort to cool the situation, the Education Bureau published a pamphlet titled Moral & National Education Subject - Useful tips for parents (volume 1): An overview on Thursday.

The pamphlet states the aims of the subject and explains that the learning and teaching strategies are part of the implementation planning.

mingyeung@chinadailyhk.com