Education Bureau

In August 2020, the Education Bureau, with the aim to 'help student develop positive values', made changes to the Liberal Studies textbooks of the six main publishers, who were invited to join the voluntary consultancy service introduced by the bureau in the previous year. The pro-democracy Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) said some teachers received messages from the publishers that the amendments relating to criticizing the mainland Chinese government and some political cartoons were replaced with emphasizing the possible criminal consequences for participants. The union accused that it is practising 'political censorship and 'had severely damaged the goals' of setting up the project.[2]

On 5 October, 2020, the Education Bureau deregistered a primary school teacher, the teacher was accused of using pro-independence materials, which the Bureau claims is an act of “spreading Hong Kong Independence message”. The Professional Teachers Union strongly condemned the teacher’s disqualification. In a statement, the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union accused the education bureau of failing to conduct a fair investigation. It said the unilateral disqualification and issuing of warning letters to the school were “despicable acts of intimidation of the school management” and were unacceptable.[3]

In February 2021, the Education Bureau, under Kevin Yeung, announced changes to the education system to incorporate the National Security Law.[4] Notices to teachers explained that teachers should educate students as young as 6 years old about the national security law.[4] In response, Ip Kin-yuen, the vice-president of the Professional Teachers' Union, said that he was astounded to see the "vast scope" of the new rules as well as the lack of consultation with teachers before the rules were published.[5]