Transcript of remarks by CE (with video)
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Reporter: Mrs Lam, does the appointment of Christine Choi yesterday, signal an intention from this administration to have a renewed push for national education? And secondly, do you think that a controversial appointment like that will torpedo your efforts during your first month to forge a better relationship with the opposition?
Chief Executive: As the Secretary for Education has mentioned a couple of times in public, national education has always been ongoing in our schools in one form or another, while I realise that five years ago using a particular approach to implement national education in schools has stirred up some controversy. So at the moment we have no particular plans to remount that sort of approach or campaign to extend the teaching of national education in schools. So this is nothing to do with this particular appointment of Dr Choi as the Under Secretary for Education.
In a city like Hong Kong, which has diverse opinion on almost every issue, it is very difficult to avoid controversy, and I am not a person who will shy away from controversy. I just do the right things for the people of Hong Kong, and I have just said in Cantonese that Dr Choi is fully qualified in terms of her academic background and also her experience, both as a principal, as a teacher, as an education official. So, like what Dr Choi has said, I sincerely hope that people, including critics, could give her the time, the space and the opportunity to perform and to bring our Hong Kong education system to newer heights.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Issued at HKT 13:10
Issued at HKT 13:10
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Audio / Video
CE meets the media