The Liberal Studies curriculum in Hong Kong was “problematic from the very beginning” more than a decade ago, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday as she defended the need for reform of the contested school subject.

It lacked a proper curriculum framework and the textbooks were unvetted, Lam told a radio programme by RTHK, giving some of the reasons why the subject had been embroiled in controversy since it was introduced in secondary schools in 2009.

Lam claimed that the subject had deviated from its original purpose of teaching students critical thinking skills, and had instead become a platform for current affairs debate and fomented a mentality of “saying no to everything.” It was wrong that anyone who appeared to accept the government’s rationale or the Basic Law, the city’s mini constitution, was deemed incapable of thinking critically, she added.

On Thursday, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung announced an overhaul of the curriculum, which would include taking students on field trips to mainland China, vetting textbooks and enhancing national security education.

Liberal Studies aim to improve students’ critical thinking and civic participation, and is a compulsory subject in matriculation exams. Pro-Beijing politicians have disparaged the subject for allegedly nurturing rebellious ideas among the youth.

Lam on Saturday rejected suggestions that her administration’s initiative to reform the subject was an order from Beijing and said there were sufficient reasons to make adjustments from an educational and quality standpoint.

One student who called in to the radio show expressed worries that vetting the teaching material would become a sort of political screening by the government. He said that current teaching resources were already able to present a well-balanced view of events, in the same way as how foreign news articles on Hong Kong were unbiased.

Lam disagreed with the student, saying that foreign media outlets in recent years had often taken a certain political stance when reporting about Hong Kong, and had contributed to damaging the city’s reputation.

The Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union said it was enraged by Lam’s remarks, which were equivalent to ignoring the dedication and contribution teachers had put in over the last decade. The government’s flip-flopping policies and propensity for self-contradiction made it difficult to gain the trust of the education sector, the union said.

It also declared as false Lam’s claim that a curriculum framework was lacking, saying there were 150 pages which clearly outlined the subject’s syllabus and assessment guidelines.

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