Hong Kong Publishing House revises general education textbooks, deletes wrong information, and emphasizes compliance with laws and regulations
[Global Times Special Correspondent in Hong Kong, Ye Lan] The general education textbook, one of the core subjects of Hong Kong high school, was often criticized for its biased content. On the 17th, the publishers participating in the voluntary submission for review successively uploaded the revised errata, and it was discovered that many errors and controversial content were deleted.
Some of the seven publishing houses that participated in the voluntary submission of professional consulting services have uploaded the errata to their textbook websites. Hong Kong's "Sing Tao Daily" obtained errata from Yaji Publishing House and Hong Kong Education Book Company (Jiaotu for short) on the 18th, and found that there were dozens of amendments, and there were significant increases or decreases in the graphics and texts of individual topics. Taking the rule of law as an example, Yaji deleted the content including the legislative controversy background of Article 23 of the Basic Law and discussing whether Hong Kong is "separation of powers" or administrative-led on the grounds of "according to teaching needs". The teaching plan also deleted the words "separation of three powers" and replaced it with "the three play the role of checks and balances to prevent excessive concentration of power." Regarding social and political participation and the identity of Hong Kong people, the deletions and changes are more obvious, in which Yaji changed the words "local consciousness" and "democratic faction" to "local consciousness" and "non-establishment faction"; deleted "Hong Kong Zhongzhi" "" and "the front line of local democracy," while deleting the phrase "to strive for social justice through social movements, such as demonstrations, demonstrations and even more fierce resistance." In the teaching diagram, delete the "Lennon Wall" photos with post-it notes such as "Don't forget the original intention" and "I want a true universal suffrage"; when talking about the contradiction between the Mainland and Hong Kong, a picture depicting "Recovery Movement demonstrators shouting Oppose the cartoons of "free travel and chaos Hong Kong"", changed to "bookstore employees vomiting bitterness for the single consumption of the community". When the book talked about the illegal "Occupy Central", it used to say that "the government will not compromise due to the radical expression of citizens, and illegal acts cannot change its policy". Now it is revised to "the government will respect the citizens' freedom and rights to protest, assemble, and express opinions. However, it is not acceptable for some people to fight for appeals by violence or illegal methods."
Other topics such as "civil disobedience" have also undergone many changes. "Ming Pao" noted on the 18th that Yaji deleted a full page of the extended response topic with the theme of "civil disobedience". The textbook for teaching maps added "Participants shall bear corresponding legal and criminal responsibilities after committing this illegal act", and emphasized that no violation of the law is allowed, and compliance with the law is the responsibility of citizens. In addition, the "Modern China" unit of general education textbooks about national development has also been revised a lot. For example, when explaining the environmental pollution situation in the Mainland, the "pollution problem reduces the desire of foreign businessmen to invest in China and tourists to visit China." It is worth mentioning that many general books have been revised to mention the new crown pneumonia epidemic. The textbooks introduced the Hong Kong government’s epidemic prevention measures, including prohibiting gatherings of more than 4 people, regulating the business model of public places and restaurants Wait. Yaji Press mentioned that the Hong Kong government has established an "epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic fund" to implement measures of hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars to assist citizens and enterprises affected by the epidemic.
According to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, publishers participating in professional consulting services have completed the revision work in accordance with the advice provided by the authorities and are uploading relevant revisions to let teachers and students know; the authorities will refer to this experience and consider strengthening the quality assurance measures of the department, including The feasibility of textbook submission. It is understood that there are textbooks for other subjects, Hong Kong high school general education books did not need to be reviewed by the Education Bureau in the past. After the outbreak of the "Regulations Amendment Disturbance" last year, many students participated in radical campaigns, and the general public was severely criticized. In September last year, the Education Bureau provided "professional consulting services" for general education textbooks and provided optimization suggestions to participating booksellers. If booksellers obeyed, they could upload them to the Education Bureau's official website bibliographic reference list, otherwise they would not be recommended.
Some Hong Kong commentators believe that although there are still imperfections in the revision of the general science textbook, it is an improvement after all, and it also reflects the power of Hong Kong’s national security law. When talking about the difference between the words "local" and "local", Deng Fei, vice chairman of the Federation of Education Workers, said that the latter involves the political meaning of isolation from the mainland, but the textbook should explain the similarities and differences between the two. Tan, in the future, those who advocate Hong Kong independence will be renamed as'local'. What will happen to the textbooks?” said Huang Jinliang, chairman of the Federation of Education. "The concepts of "civil disobedience" and "unlawful justice" affect the values of some students and even teachers. "Illegal justice must be wrong, and it must be clearly stated that this is illegal." He said that there were examples of biased guidance in textbooks in the past, and proper selection of materials can avoid preconceived ideas of students and make them awed by the rule of law.