NEWS UPDATE: On Wednesday September 4, after months of demonstrations, Hong Kong’s chief executive announced that she would withdraw the extradition bill that set off the protests. Pro-democracy protest leaders remain skeptical. They are also demanding an independent investigation of police actions, amnesty for arrested protesters, that the government should stop referring to protesters as rioters, and the direct election of Hong Kong lawmakers.
News articles on education in Asian schools usually focus on high performance on international standardized tests. In 2017, secondary school students in Hong Kong placed third worldwide on collaborative problem-solving skills. Students also scored high above average on 2015 PISA science, math, and reading exams, ranking ninth in science globally and second in reading and math.
But Hong Kong secondary school students are also leaders in another area – political action. This week high school students returned to school wearing helmets, goggles, and gas masks as they formed human chains to block entrances and streets as part of the pro-democracy strike wave engulfing the city. Demonstrators are demanding protection for Hong Kong’s autonomy, which is being threatened by China’s governing Communist Party. According to one student, Owen Lo, age sixteen, “The government thinks it can quell the movement when students return to school, because we can only come out during the summer, but that’s not true.”
While Lo and other students are fearful of repercussions from China and local authorities, he feels that “seeing so many students selflessly gambling their future to express their demands to the government, it is infectious, and makes me want to come out and do something for Hong Kong.” During the summer many high school and university students have fought with police who fired tear gas and bullets and used truncheons to control demonstrations.
On the first day of “school” protests remained peaceful. At many schools students showed up wearing black shirts or eye patches. The eye-patches were remembrances of a first-aid volunteer who lost an eye when hit by a projectile fired by the police. Some students, who refused to attend classes, gathered in libraries to study and plan. Tens of thousands of high school and university students attended a mass rally at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where they heard speeches by professors, lawyers, and student protesters.
High school students plan to protest for one day a week until demands are met, including threats to extradite political prisoners from Hong Kong for trial in China proper. Organizers estimated at least 9,000 secondary students from more than 200 schools participated in Monday’s in the boycott.
Government officials condemned student activism and ordered teachers not to support their students. At a press conference, Hong Kong city’s chief secretary charged that boycotts would only extend “turmoil we see in society to the peaceful environments of school. This holds no benefits for the mood of students as they study, or for the healthy growth of our next generation. Schools are absolutely not places for presenting political views or demands.”
However, Hong Kong’s young people were not deterred. Jessie Cheung, age 17, explained that she was drained after spending the summer attending protests and studying for college entrance exams. “On the one hand, I have to care about my grades, and on the other, I need to perform my civic duty.” Cheung had not skipped a single protest march since June.
The Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union is treading a difficult path between supporting pro-democracy demonstrations and obeying administrative directive. The union issued a statement that students had the “maturity” to decide whether to strike, but did not endorse high school class boycotts. Ip Kin-yuen, a union vice-president, encouraged schools to accommodate the wishes of their students.
The Chinese government blames high school citizenship classes for fomenting student discontent. A mandatory civics course has been part of the curriculum in Hong Kong for a number of years. It is designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and covers topics banned in schools outside of Hong Kong such as the threat of climate change, the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations at Tiananmen Square that were suppressed by the Chinese government, and the work of Liu Xiaobo, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for his role in Chinese pro-democracy protests. Xu Luying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese government, condemned the curriculum because “Passionately loving the country and passionately loving the motherland should be taught in the first class in school.”
At a press conference on Monday, Hong Kong police said they arrested over 150 people that weekend alone including Joshua Wong Chi-fung, a prominent 23-year-old student activist. Wong started an “Umbrella Movement” in Hong Kong in 2014 when demonstrators blocked major thoroughfares for eleven weeks in a push for full democracy for the city. He also helped found pro-democracy groups Scholarism for students and Demosistō, which advocates for self-determination for Hong Kong. As a result, Wong has been arrested multiple times. More than 1,000 protestors have been arrested since this year’s demonstrations began in June. The British newspaper The Guardian has a video of demonstrations and police responses on its website.
Yesterday Joshua Wang tweeted a five-point response to the withdrawal of the extradition bill.
1. Too little and too late now — Carrie Lam's response comes after 7 lives sacrificed, more than 1,200 protestors arrested, in which many are mistreated in police station.
2. The intensified police brutality in the previous weeks have left an irreversible scar to the entire HK society. And therefore, at this very moment, when Carrie Lam announced withdrawal, people would not believe it is a 'sincere' move.
3. Instead, HK people are well-aware of her notorious track record. Whenever there are signs of sending a palm branch, they always come with a far tighter grip on exercising civil rights. Earlier today Ronny Tong has already advised using secret police.
4. We urge the world too to alert this tactic and not to be deceived by HK and Beijing Govt. They have conceded nothing in fact, and a full-scale clampdown is on the way.
5. In short, Carrie Lam's repeated failure in understanding the situation has made this announcement completely out of touch - She needs to address to ALL Five Demands: STOP PROSECUTION, STOP CALLING US RIOTERS, INDEPENDENT INQUIRY OF POLICE and FREE ELECTION!
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