The Catholic diocese of Hong Kong has joined the chorus of opposition against the government's national education plan, saying it puts the welfare of state or government ahead of that of its citizens.
In an article in its weekly newspaper, the Sunday Examiner, the church speaks out for the first time on the proposal to make all Hong Kong schools include national education as a subject.
'It is the state and the government that exist for the well-being of the citizens, not the citizens for the welfare of the state,' the article says.
The church also says that because of the tight timetable, with the national and moral education rollout starting in 2012, there will be no choice but to import textbooks directly from the mainland, as was done in Macau.
The diocese's chief curriculum officer, Francis Chan Nai-kwok, said this meant Hong Kong would be forced to transplant mainland-style patriotic education into schools.
In the article, published yesterday, the church also challenges what it says is the assumption that Hongkongers are unpatriotic.
'The drafting committee of the Catholic Board of Education argues that people in Hong Kong are not unpatriotic, as seems to be implied in the consultation paper.'
