Hong Kong pupils to learn more about Communist Party history on mainland China trips

Education Bureau says cross-border trips in coming school year will include visits to museums and sites of historical relevance to the party

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Some of the planned cross-border school trips will include visits to Beijing’s Museum of the Communist Party of China. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:05pm, 26 Aug 2024Updated: 9:55pm, 26 Aug 2024

Hong Kong education authorities have vowed to bolster pupils’ national spirit by including more elements covering the Communist Party’s history and the struggles of its significant figures for primary and secondary student trips to mainland China.

The Education Bureau also said the move aligned with national calls to promote patriotic education, with the excursions in the coming school year to include visits to museums, memorial halls and sites of historical relevance to the party.

Authorities are planning 81 cross-border trips, each to last one to six days, for students in Primary Four and upwards under an annual outline for mainland exchange programmes.

In the circular, the bureau called for schools to “proactively arrange” for students to take part in the exchanges.

“Mainland exchange programmes and study tours for students form an important part of national education … [helping] enable primary and secondary students to gain first-hand experience of our country’s development from multiple perspectives, deepen what they have learned in class, enhance their understanding of our country and strengthen their sense of national identity,” it said.

The government earlier said the programmes had an annual quota of more than 100,000 students, meaning each pupil in the city could join at least once in primary school and again during their secondary education.