Students will learn more about the Basic Law and the "one-country, two-systems" rule between the mainland and Hong Kong. This comes as the Education Bureau updated the Basic Education Curriculum Guide last Thursday.
Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union director Cheung Yui-fai said the bureau was responding to pressure from the State Council to promote nationalism, Ming Pao Daily News reported.
Cheung said it was wrong for the government to try to pressure teachers, and Hong Kong teachers should not be told what to teach.
Parents Concern Group on National Education convener Eva Chan agreed with Cheung. She said it was good for students to learn about the Basic Law, but was worried that the government would try to control how teachers were going to teach it.
Marianne Yap Hui-yu, a 17-year-old recent graduate of Hong Kong International School, didn't think it was necessary for schools to teach anything except the big ideas of the Basic Law. Those looking for jobs in government, she said, could study the details more thoroughly.
Laxmi Limbu, 16, a student at Delia Memorial School, said this was just a new way for the government to introduce national education. The issue caused an uproar in 2012, with students protesting. The government finally backed down.
"Aren't [the topics] already covered in both general studies and liberal studies?" Laxmi said.