Students Kneeled Before University Head to Provide Support for Student Protesters

In a close-door meeting with the university head, students of the Open University of Hong Kong kneeled down, in a hope that the University head will issue an open letter to show support for students.

Source: Stand News, 30 Oct

#OpenU #HongKongStudents #StandWithHongKong

Volunteer tutors help “dreaming” students with DSE: You are not alone

The government’s push for the Anti-Mask Law has sparked intense retaliations. Many of the student protesters at the front lines, however, still have the DSE (Diploma of Secondary Education) to prepare for, which will start in less than six months. Sadly, none of their efforts for Hong Kong will be credited to their grades. In light of this, some netizens took the initiative to start a platform to recruit tutors. So far, 200 volunteer teachers have volunteered to tutor these students for free, in order to help them make up for all the lost hours. More than just being tutors, many of them end up offering emotional support to these students too, becoming the beacon of hope to the students in such difficult times.

#CommunityWork #HongKongStudents #HongKongProtests

Continue Reading:
https://telegra.ph/Volunteer-tutors-help-dreaming-students-with-DSE-You-are-not-alone-11-02

#PoliceState #AntiEpidemic
Police Fine Youngsters Who Distribute Anti-Epidemic Kit for Free

At around 7pm on Sunday, April 19, 2020, police received complaints that 6 to 8 young people gathered and peddled at Sai Yeung Choi South Street. A large group of police officers arrived at the scene and encircled the booth which distributed anti-epidemic kits to civilians for free.

The sign “Free Distribution of Epidemic Prevention Supply” was shown. The booth was also decorated with pro-democracy movement flags and signs that read “Liberate Hong Kong Revolution of our Times”.

Police carrying shields intercepted the youngsters attending the booth. After the police left at around 8pm, one youngster who is a student told the press that they were distributing epidemic prevention materials while police officers suddenly appeared and handed them fine tickets for violating the gathering ban.

Text: RTHK #Apr19
Image: Terry
#CoronavirusPandemic #HongKongStudents

#Education #WhiteTerror #Censorship
Education Bureau: Students should not participate in political activities while wearing school uniform

Students in Hong Kong held a “Sing with you” activity in the shopping mall APM on 19 June, 2020. The Education Bureau urged students to "treasure their time and avoid any dangerous or illegal activities".

It was stated that students "should not participate in school boycotts, slogan chantings and human chain activities". The Bureau pointed out that if students joined these activities while wearing school uniform, it may cause misunderstandings about the political stance of the school. Relevants schools were contacted to follow up such incidents.

Source: Stand News #Jun19 #EDB #HongKongStudents

#Education
A HK School Ignores a Student’s Request to Repeat a School Year During Social Movement

A photograph went viral on social media, in which it showed a student in the uniform of the Kei Heep Secondary School, went down on his knees in the rain in front of the school gate. He held an ipad and its screen read: “the school is completely flouting students' needs and depriving students' opportunity to learn”. He pleaded for his school's attention for over an hour.

The Form 6 student, surnamed Chan, said he was injured and suffered depression since last year. Impacted by the year-long social movement, he has missed many classes and was concerned about his ability of catching up with the progress of DSE examination in a few months.

He expressed that he has been seeking the school’s permission to repeat a year in school since May, but the school stalled, until recently, rejected his request.

Chan said he was supposed to meet with the school principal at 10am that morning, but the meeting was cancelled last minute for reasons unknown, leaving him no option but to kneel in front of school gate in a bid to discuss with school representative face-to-face.

He went on saying that despite his effort, the school continued to ignore him. Only when it started to rain, and onlookers' concern aroused, teachers then came to him; however, some teachers taunted him: “enough acting!” , “Go inside!" , "Nobody cares!”

Chan had waited on his knees outside the school gate for around an hour until a district councilor came to mediate.

Responding to Apple Daily’s inquiry, the school’s counselling teacher denied that teachers taunted Chan as described.

Source: Civil Servants' Secrets #Sept19
https://www.facebook.com/492354117860377/posts/1040172569745193/

#HongKongStudents #Youth #FailedState

#StudentPoliticism #Interview
Pro-democracy Student Group Convener: “I was not born in Hong Kong, but I am willing to die for it”

Part 1/3
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/26809

Part 2/3
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/26840

Part 3/3

Student Politicism convener Wong Yat-Chin was born and raised in China until he moved to Hong Kong in Primary 5, yet his love and attachment to the city are undeniable.

He recalled being unfamiliar with politics when he was young, and even after he immigrated, he spent his time “gaming and playing ballgames with his peers” and “did not really have a goal in life”. Wong said that he didn’t even know what the 'yellow" (pro-democracy) and the 'blue' (pro-Beijing) camps were until last year.

On June 9, 2019, Wong participated in a rally for the first time, because he felt that the Extradition Law amendments was unjust. The real wake-up call for him was when pro-democracy protester Marco Leung fell to his death at Pacific Place on June 15, 2019.

Wong sighed in retrospect saying, “I guess some would even choose to sacrifice their lives for this movement.” He said that the incident made him even more involved in the movement.

Wong started an awareness group in his secondary school and organized strikes, devoting most of his time to the movement. Some of his teachers advised him to continue only after finishing his studies. However, Wong expressed that he “wouldn’t be able to live up to his conscience, and by that time it would be too late for both me and Hong Kong.”

Not only did his participation in the movement affect his academics, it has also affected his relationship with his family and friends. Wong does not talk to his parents often because of their different political stances. “They knew I am involved but they didn’t say much, even when I got arrested last time, all they said was “okay” and that was it.”

At the beginning of the movement, he could still get in touch with his friends in China, but as the movement continued, they gradually lost contact, some even called him “violent thug” after they knew that he had founded Student Politicism.

Wong admitted that he had felt discouraged, but with his newly founded organization, he realized that “this movement is something I have committed the most in.”

In the past, he did not want to study and only dreamed of starting a local fashion brand, but now he aims to self-study for the public exam DSE and hopes to study politics in the future.

“I believe that the day will come when all Hong Kong people will rise up and fight together in unity, ” Wong repeatedly said in his interview. When he was asked whether he is worried about the consequences, he replied “I can foresee that I might become a political prisoner, but I am willing to sacrifice my life. I have not considered leaving the city.”

“I was not born in Hong Kong, but I am willing to die for it.”

Source: InMedia #Nov15
https://www.inmediahk.net/node/1078838

#LoveHongKong #Conscience #HongKongStudents #Youth #WongYatChin

#FirstHand #Dec28
Hong Kong Students Voice Out for Academic Freedom

Poliscientia, a concern group founded by Hong Kong students, set up a street booth in Mongkok on Dec 28, 2020.

Spokeperson Michael said they hope to raise awareness of the suppression faced by schools in Hong Kong, since the government announced the education reform.

Michael also encouraged Hongkongers to not give up fighting and speak up despite the threat of academic freedom imposed by the #NationalSecurityLaw.

#HongKongStudents #Poliscientia

#PoliceState #Oppression
HK Police threatens student group exhibiting historical material of democratic movements a violation of #NationalSecurityLaw

On January 31, 2021, five members of #ReturningValiant, a newly established pro-democracy student group in Hong Kong, set up street booths in Shatin and Mong Kok respectively at around 1pm.

The student organizers distributed pamphlets and booklets concerning democratic movements in European and Asian history.

At around 3pm, the two booths were encircled by a large number of police officers. The students at the scene were ticketed and fined for violating the gathering ban.

The students said that the police taunted and threatened them for breaching the National Security Law. The officers took away their materials as "evidence".

In response, the group questioned “if citing and sharing historical events are illegal under the National Security Law, shouldn’t History class in schools also be outlawed.”

In Shatin, the booth was also harassed by a group of Beijing loyalists at around 3pm. Soon after that, the police arrived st the scene and issued fine tickets, took pictures, and ordered them to leave.

One member of the student group said in defiance that they will continue organizing similar events in the future.

In late evening at 9pm, Hong Kong Police Force announced that police officers issued five tickets to 4 male and 1 female, aged between 13 and 24, concerning violation of social distancing restriction (#Article599G) in Mong Kok. In Shatin, another four tickets were issued to 2 male and 2 female for the same reason. The Force denied for confiscating display materials on the scene.

Source: Apple Daily, #Jan31
https://bit.ly/2MKjqew

====
Read more:
HK Police Intercept Pro-Democracy Group on a Saturday
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/28488

#FailedState #History #DemocracticMovements #HongKongStudents #StreetBooth

#University #HongKongYouth
New Cabinet Member of PolyU Student Union vows to continue fighting on student front for freedom and democracy

In November 2019, Hong Kong police violently attacked pro-democracy protesters in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK) and Polytechnic University of Hong Kong (#PolyU).

In #PolyUSeige, more than a thousand protesters were arrested and over 300 underaged had their personal information marked down by police.

More than a year later, the new cabinet of #PolyU Student Union was formed. It was said that the PolyU student union cabinet and the #CUHK student union cabinet would perhaps the only two cabinets to be formed this year.

Different from the #CUHK “senior” cabinet, which was formed by Year 3 students, 12 of the 17 cabinet members of PolyU student union are “underaged”, including the President and Vice-Presidents.

The newly elected President, Alan Wu, is a year 1 freshman. He admitted in bitter grin that it has been a “wasted freshman year” due to the coronavirus pandemic. Not only that they have been deprived a normal senior college life and University life, but they have also witnessed their classmates being violently pinned to the ground by riot police, arrested and charged with riots.

During anti-ELAB movement, some of their friends even sacrificed their lives, leaving behind last words for people to carry on protesting.

They described themselves a generation of “distorted youth” by authoritarianism. For the same reason, the three cabinet members of PolyU student union stood up for pro-democracy movement on student front.

Source: Stand News, #Feb10

======
Related article
One Year On: PolyU Student Recalls Traumatic Memory of #PolyUSiege
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/26738

#Future #NextGeneration #HongKongStudents #StudentsUnion

#Propaganda
Kindergartens in Hong Kong Distribute National Security Pamphlets as Govt Promotes "Education Day"

The government has been promoting with great fanfare a "National Security Education Day", the first of its kind since the National Security Law was introduced, on Apr 15, 2021.

A reader of Stand News reported that a kindergarten student had received related promotional materials from school, in the form of stickers and bookmarks.

The slogan "Uphold national security, safeguard our home" is printed in both Chinese and English. In dense, smaller font, the materials listed 16 areas of security, including "space security", "deep sea security", "polar security", and so on. According to the Education Day's government website, these are the 16 "chief areas" covered under the concept of national security.

Since the introduction of the National Security Law, the Education Bureau had "reminded" all Hong Kong schools - primary, secondary, kindergarten, and even special education schools - to let students "understand" and "be reminded" to obey the National Security Law.

In an article earlier this week, the Bureau chief also suggested schools to promote national security education by "multiple venues". He suggested activities such as flag-raising ceremonies and playing the national anthem, speeches explaining important security concepts in morning assemblies and classrooms, and so on.

The bureau will also be hosting security-themed bulletin board design competitions and online Q&A contests, available for schools and students to participate in.

Source: Stand News #Apr12
https://bit.ly/3a7ixFD

#NationalSecurity #Propaganda #Education #Brainwashing #Kindergarten #HongKongStudents #Youth

#PoliticalSuppression #Censorship
More Hong Kong Teachers Resign, as #WhiteTerror Sweeps Campuses

A wave of resignation is sweeping the Education sector in Hong Kong.

Apple Daily got in touch with one of these resigning teachers in the city. Ms Chan, a veteran secondary school teacher for over 10 years, said there was an atmosphere of terror in schools.

“We have been more cautious in our talk. We even stopped using social media all together. I genuinely believed there was freedom of speech. But in fact, there really are cases of warning due to online comments we've made.”

She revealed she won’t use current affairs as examples. “After all I don’t know what students think. I can be teaching about length, when I talked of the differences between miles and kilometres. But if I said 10 miles and 10 km are different*, would someone think I am mocking the police?”

*Editor's Note: On September 23, 2019, a police officer in Hong Kong ordered journalists to stand “10 miles” away, when he actually meant 10 metres.

Source: Apple Daily #May9

https://hk.appledaily.com/local/20210509/6QPJX7CLH5C6ZBZU5K5UCLQZ5E/

#PoliceState #Education #HongKongTeachers #HongKongStudents #RedLine

#Education #Mainlandization
Chinese Students Surge in Hong Kong Universities Following Social Movement and #Covid19 Crisis

Following the eruption of the 2019 Anti-ELAB movements and amid the coronavirus pandemic, it is found that more Chinese students have been admitted the universities in Hong Kong.

According to the documents released by the Education Bureau, among the 8 UFC-funded universities, 6 made new heights in the admission of Chinese students in the 2020/21 Academic Year.

Particularly in #LingnanUniversity, #BaptistUniversity and #EducationUniversity, the
student composition is greatly imbalanced, with Chinese students making up 80% of all non-local students.

The University Grants Committee (#UGC) claimed that international undergraduate admission has taken a hit owing to the pandemic, thwarting the plans of overseas talents to study in Hong Kong.

Source: Mingpao #May10

https://news.mingpao.com/pns/%e6%b8%af%e8%81%9e/article/20210510/s00002/1620584135584/%e5%8f%8d%e4%bf%ae%e4%be%8b%e9%81%8b%e5%8b%95%e5%be%8c-6%e5%a4%a7%e5%ad%b8%e5%85%a7%e5%9c%b0%e7%94%9f%e4%bd%94%e6%af%94%e5%8d%87-%e6%b8%af%e7%94%9f%e7%94%b3%e8%ab%8b%e8%b5%b4%e5%8f%b0%e8%ae%80%e5%a4%a7%e5%ad%b8-%e4%ba%ba%e6%95%b8%e5%a2%9e%e5%9b%9b%e6%88%90

#University #AntiELAB #HongKongStudents #ChineseStudents

#Education #Poll
Drop-out Rate Surges in Schools as Parents lose confidence in Hong Kong's Education System

On May 26, 2021, Hong Kong's Professional Teachers' Union (#PTU) published a recent poll result, revealing that both primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong are losing their students.

Out of 130 primary and 53 secondary schools that joined the survey, all of them recorded the departure of students in the school year 2021/2022.

70% of these schools have lost 1 to 20 students, while 30% have lost 21 or more. Among them, three schools saw more than 50 students leaving. Nearly one-fifth of the primary schools have to shrink the class of Primary One in the 2022/2023 school year.

More than 30% of the primary schools and more than 40% of the secondary schools stated the majority of the reasons for dropping out are emigration and pursuing education overseas.

The chairperson of the Professional Teachers' Union, Fung Wai-wah, said many parents in Hong Kong are very concerned about the political pressure, the introduction of national education and the government's changing education policy among others. Under the circumstances, more and more parents lost confidence in Hong Kong's education system, and chose to move out of Hong Kong with their children.

Source: Stand News #May26

https://beta.thestandnews.com/politics/教協調查指多間學校有學生退學-兩成小學面臨縮班-馮偉華-家長對香港教育信心減

#School #Confidence #BrainDrain #MigrationWave #NextGeneration #HongKongStudents #Parenting

#Migration #Hongkongers
Students and Teachers leaving Hong Kong en masse

The Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools (#HKAHSS) and Hong Kong Centre for International Student Assessment (#HKCISA) jointly revealed research report on December 1, 2021.

The report found that the number of students withdrawing in 2020/2021 academic year has surged by 1.7 times to 4,460 in comparison to the 2019/2020 academic year.

On average, each school recorded 32 withdrawals. Among them, nearly 60% named “leaving Hong Kong” as a reason for withdrawal.

Among teachers, 987 resigned in 2020/2021, a sharp jump of nearly 100% as compared to last academic year. 7.1 teachers resigned on average in each school with most of them citing emigration and early retirement as reasons.

Source: Citizen News; #Dec1
https://bit.ly/3Ddp519

#HongKongStudents #HongKongYouth #Future

#University
Editorial Committee of Hong Kong Baptist University's Students' Union resigns en masse due to #Censorship

On January 28, 2022, students’ Union Editorial Board of the Hong Kong Baptist University (#HKBU) revealed on Facebook that the university managenent had repeatedly interfered in students' editorial work.

The student board said the university had asked them to stop using the term “Wuhan virus” in their reports, interfered their coverage of the university’s national security curriculum, and asked them to withdraw copies of a recent issue of their student magazine, “Jumbo”.

The board accused the university of suppressing the students' publication, and announced that all its members would resign with immediate effect.

The university, meanwhile, decided to discontinue its relationship with the students' board and terminate students' rights to use all the facilities on campus. The university management claimed that they would take disciplinary action against the students concerned.

Source: Luminant Hong Kong; #Jan28
https://t.me/luminanthk/5224

#StudentUnion #PressFreedom #Resignation #HongKongStudents