Schoolchildren are being poisoned by foreign media and biased teachers, according to our dear leader Carrie Lam. She has told her administration that pupils should have less education about world affairs, and more on the glories of the motherland.

On Thursday the Secretary for Education, Kevin Yeung, announced changes to the Liberal Studies curriculum, a compulsory subject at secondary schools as part of the university entry exam.

The subject was proposed in 2005, but it took until 2009 to be actually introduced. When first outlining the idea, the then-education-secretary Fanny Law said: “The purpose is to encourage young people to … analyze and discuss international, national and social issues from different perspectives, so as to gain a better understanding of the world around them.”

Sounds like a good idea: helping youngsters develop critical thinking about national and international issues. But according to Carrie Lam, pupils have developed too much critical thinking. Earlier this year she blamed Liberal Studies for fomenting anti-government demonstrations. She said teachers had given “false and biased information” which had led to the poisoning of students.

So now the government is changing the subject to focus more on mainland China and less on other worldwide affairs. The amount of time devoted to the subject will be halved. Teaching materials will also have to be vetted by the government.

Many people in the teaching community have voiced concern over the change. They see it as a kind of brainwashing – an increased focus on the motherland’s glory and less focus on the rest of the world.

I think a focus on China is a good thing. After all, China is Hong Kong’s mother country. Over the past three decades it has become an economic giant, and is now a big player on the world stage.  It has achieved many remarkable things – its space programme has managed to do in a few years what other countries took decades.

Let’s teach our children about that. But also let’s teach them about the other side to the central government’s achievements. About the other side to modern Chinese history.

I wonder if the revamped Liberal Studies curriculum will teach children about how Beijing reneged on its promise to give Hong Kong universal suffrage under the 1984 Joint Declaration. Will it teach them about how President Xi Jinping has purged the Communist Party of all voices of dissent? Of how he has changed the constitution to allow him to rule for unlimited terms. Of how he has overseen the incarceration of over 1 million ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang?

Will it teach children about the Tiananmen massacre, where Li Peng ordered in troops to kill hundreds, possibly thousands of young protesters? Will our children learn about the Great Leap Forward, Chairman Mao’s attempt to communize the agrarian economy that led to tens of millions of people starving to death?

Will the syllabus teach about the routine arrests of lawyers and activists – in fact the almost total suppression of dissent?

I suspect not. Given what our dear leader Carrie Lam has said, pupils will be told a sanitized, saccharine version of modern China. Lam believes what the central government tells her to believe. And she believes that pupils should not discuss what the BBC, CNN or Washington Post say about Hong Kong because, in her words: “I don’t think foreign media reports can be subjective and fair, especially those looking at Hong Kong. Recently, on these political matters, I think they have strong stance in their reports...and exactly because of this, the image of the SAR has been hurt.”

No Carrie, the image of the SAR has been hurt because of government policy. Because people are being denied democracy. Because police beat up and arrest teenage protesters.  Because the courts are being used as a political weapon. The image of the SAR is being hurt by you.

(Alex Price is a journalist who has lived and worked in Hong Kong for over 30 years.)

We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]

Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.

The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play