In response to media enquiries about safeguarding national security, an Education Bureau (EDB) spokesman made the following response today (June 24):

     Safeguarding national security is the Government's responsibility, as well as the obligation of the whole community of Hong Kong. It is also part and parcel of the routine school work in promoting national security education. With the implementation of the National Security Law for five years, Hong Kong has transited "from chaos to stability" and "from stability to prosperity".  The EDB has adopted a "multi-pronged and co-ordinated" approach, including activities inside and outside the classroom, to strengthen students' understanding of Chinese culture, the Constitution and the Basic Law, and their awareness of law-abiding in promoting patriotic education.

     The EDB has issued detailed administrative and educational guidelines to schools, requiring them to establish school-based mechanisms and formulate appropriate measures according to their own circumstances and needs to implement various tasks related to safeguarding national security and national security education. The EDB also provided schools with an updated "National Security: School Self-evaluation Checklist" in April this year, and provided suggestions of refinement and good practices of different areas of work, covering national security work planning, monitoring mechanisms, learning and teaching and related resources, school activities, personnel management and training, and home-school co-operation, in order to effectively prevent and suppress acts and activities that endanger or are detrimental to national security. Schools have the responsibility to play a good gate-keeper role and to enhance the sensitivity of teachers and students to national security.

     Schools offering non-local curricula also have the responsibility to help their students, regardless of their ethnicity and nationality, acquire a correct and objective understanding and appreciation of the concept of national security and the National Security Law, as well as the duty to cultivate a law-abiding spirit among their students. These schools should devise and continuously review relevant strategies and measures in light of their school-based circumstances and needs, with a view to maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment and promoting students' effective learning and healthy development.

     The EDB will continue to monitor and support schools in implementing the relevant work through various channels, such as daily communication with schools. The EDB will also advance towards more in-depth and effective implementation of work to safeguard national security, and continue to work hand in hand with different stakeholders to help schools build a protective barrier to safeguard the well-being of students.

Ends/Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Issued at HKT 21:25

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