Editorial | Hong Kong school flag-raising row a lesson for all
- Suspensions for students who missed the event have led to calls for more education and greater legal clarity on respecting national symbols
Hong Kong schools are still on a learning curve when it comes to national education. A recent row over a flag-raising event on campus is a case in point.
The suspension of 14 students from class for three days for skipping the ceremony has raised questions over the guidelines and punishment for acts of disrespect in relation to the national flag and anthem. Greater clarity is called for.
Unlike the occasional booing of the anthem at football matches, which is a phenomenon that reflects the city’s political division and troubled past, the episode at the St Francis Xavier’s School in Tsuen Wan looks more like a case of inadvertence on the part of the students concerned. One said he was having breakfast in the playground at the time and he soon walked over to the ceremony upon hearing the anthem.
But he was reportedly stopped by the principal and was punished among others for “disrespecting” the event.
Whether a three-day suspension is appropriate is a matter of judgment. Parents were told the students were punished for “breaking school rules” because they had failed to turn up for the assembly, at which the flag-raising ceremony is held once a week. But the punishment was also seen by some as excessive.