We must not be led to wag the dog.
First, let us go to the very basic. Let us face it by asking how effectively we have acted or planned to deal with the following:
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- Revise the language policy so that students are fundamentally biliterate (i.e. mastering written Chinese and English) and trilingual (i.e. speaking fluent Cantonese, Putonghua and English)
- Promote cultural integration through education policies
- Promote respect for multiculturalism
- Revise policies and measures affecting education equity
- Amend the current policy on the single promotion assessment for school children of different abilities.
- Give flexibility to provide individual and personalized education opportunities for school children
- Develop students' ability to learn on their own
- Upgrade the professional status of teachers, promote continuous professional development and set the professional ladder of teachers (teachers' career pathway) to attract young people to become professional teachers
- Decentralize, to allow schools to design appropriate education activities according to the sexual ability of different students, and to use grants flexibly as needed
- Provide an effective collaboration platform to share successful education stories
How are we to achieve all these thoroughly, boldly and effectively?
To make situations more muddled, Hong Kong has even more difficult hurdles ahead. The volatile political and social situations that popped up with the social incidents instigated by the Government’s proposal of 2019 Extradition Bill published on March 29, 2019 did not lessen, though the bill was withdrawn on October 23 in the same year. The social and political atmosphere is in a turmoil when the Central Government started to press for the passing of National Anthem Law, legislation for Article 23 of the Basic Law and the most recent hurl when the draft of the Hong Kong National Security Law was passed by the Central Government on May 28, 2020.
As educators, we have to ask and find ways to settle the unsettled minds of our students, to set their ways to enjoy their studies, to promote civic and national education so that our students will be good future masters of Hong Kong. Our students are the ones who will witness and greet the coming of 2047, the year that “one country two systems” will expire. The very initial and basic question for us is, under the present social and political environment, how can we effectively teach our students the very basics, for example, the 6C’s of education ([popup_anything id="927"]), how to teach in the tidal waves of Hong Kong’s present tides of populism, democracy and liberty. We must bear in mind that human resources are the only factor to keep Hong Kong alive. In the meantime, Hong Kong’s comparative advantage over Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other China cities is ebbing. In fact, we do not look good when compared with our neighbours ([popup_anything id="930"]).
