They pointed out that aside from the new name and overhauled course content, the new subject will figure less in the university entrance examination, as students will receive only a pass or fail grade. Only half as many teaching hours will be spent on the new course compared with liberal studies.

The Education Bureau unveiled the sweeping changes earlier this year after some pro-Beijing heavyweights blamed liberal studies for radicalising young people during the 2019 protests and argued that some teaching materials were biased.

Kindergarten uses poetry, tea tastings to push national security education

Liberal studies was introduced at the upper secondary level in 2009 and was meant to develop students’ social awareness and critical thinking skills.

The new subject focuses instead on national security and identity, as well as lawfulness and patriotism. It has three key themes – Hong Kong under “one country, two systems”, China’s reform and opening-up, and the interconnectedness and interdependence of the contemporary world.

“One objective of the new subject is clearly to strengthen national identity among students, just like many countries have their own national education courses,” said liberal studies teacher Hung Tak-ming, who is assistant principal at HKTA Ching Chung Secondary School in Kwun Tong.

The Post observed one of his first citizenship and social development lessons for Form Four students, during which he asked everyone to write down whether they preferred living In Hong Kong or the mainland, and their reasons.

He then asked several to share their answers. Most said they preferred living in the city, noting they were more familiar with it and enjoyed better welfare support.

Hung used the 30-minute lesson to discuss the different systems in Hong Kong and the mainland – including in terms of their courts, societies, cultures and approaches to freedom of speech – and also explained the one country, two systems principle of governance.

Ex-Hong Kong leader starts new channel to promote national identity

He said future lessons might touch on the 2019 protests to highlight the importance of abiding by the law, noting how the unrest became increasingly violent, with some protesters throwing petrol bombs and setting fires, and police responding with tear gas and numerous arrests.

In guidelines for the new subject, education officials discouraged schools from touching on “newly emerging current events and issues” during class discussions, saying these were usually “very controversial, and may lack comprehensive, objective and reliable information”.

Hung said the 2019 social unrest might have been a “newly emerging current event” two years ago but not now, and he would not avoid discussing it in class.

During the protests, he added, there were some who advocated the notion of “achieving justice by breaking the law”. But after recent court cases, including one in which a 16-year-old pleaded guilty to rioting and was sentenced to six months in a detention centre, it was clear that violence was wrong and could damage the rule of law, he said.

Chinese flag must fly higher than the rest, Hong Kong international schools told

Another change under the overhaul is that all textbooks for the subject must be vetted by the government. But as the changes were rolled out in a matter of months, publishers have yet to supply schools with new textbooks.

Instead, education officials have provided schools with 12 sets of slide presentations on the subject’s main themes.

They include details of Chinese national symbols, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in June last year, banning acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

A survey last month by a policy research think tank which polled 900 secondary school students found most were largely uninterested in the two key themes on one country, two systems and China’s reform and opening-up.

Many of the nearly 100 teachers surveyed found it difficult to teach the subject without a detailed curriculum or textbooks.

At Pui Kiu Middle School in North Point, teacher Eddie Ting Kong-ho said he drafted several sets of teaching materials over the past two months for the new subject.

He found that the Education Bureau’s official teaching materials were rich in content but lacked examples, so he compiled photographs and news excerpts to flesh out topics such as lawfulness and national security.

The school’s materials include examples from the 2019 protests and the first national security law case involving Leon Tong Ying-kit, 24, who was sentenced to nine years’ jail for riding his motorcycle into a group of police officers last year while flying a flag calling for Hong Kong’s liberation.

Ting said the case showed the importance of national security.

Still, the school took care to redact some protest slogans, including “Hong Kong independence”, that had appeared in news photos from the unrest, as Ting said showing them in class might fall into a legal grey area.

He added that he hoped students would apply themselves even though the subject had only a pass or fail grade. However, he also acknowledged that the syllabus allowed “fewer opportunities for class discussions” and focused more on students absorbing factual concepts and information about Hong Kong and mainland China.

“We will try to think of more activities and interactions during our lessons to try to trigger their interest … or else teachers will only experience more difficulty and challenges in engaging pupils,” he said.