British teachers in Hong Kong 'considering resigning' over controversial security law

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Kit Heren4 September 2020

British teachers in Hong Kong are considering resigning from international schools because of the national security law brought in by Beijing, reports say.

According to The Telegraph, some teachers are changing what they teach and self-censoring to avoid getting in trouble under the new law, imposed by the Chinese government to bring Hong Kong under control after huge protests in the city in recent years.

Under the sweeping new legislation passed this year, anything deemed to constitute terrorism, secession, subversion, or foreign collusion could now see offenders thrown in prison for life.

“For the first time ever, I am going to be put in a position where I may have to censor or shut down a discussion,” a longstanding teacher at a British international school in Hong Kong told the newspaper.

Hong Kong protests against a new national security law

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“Under the new law, it seems that although a right to freedom of speech is still ‘allowed,’ you are not allowed to criticise the government,” he added.

“If a student decided they wanted to create a piece of art or piece of theatre which explored the protests, I would not be able to allow that direction.”

Teachers have not officially been ordered to change curriculums, but said they were adapting material to remove anything that could get them in trouble.

One teacher said they were thinking about getting rid of a lesson on the activism of Rosa Parks, an icon of the US civil rights movement who refused to get out of her seat for a white man during a time of racial segregation and was jailed.

Riot police in a protest in Hong Kong
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Another was considering altering lessons about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, when peaceful protesters were shot by government troops. Commemorations of the event have been allowed in Hong Kong, but activists fear the new law will put paid to that.

Another colleague who teaches history was seeking advice on how to alter lessons about the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, when the Chinese military opened fire on peaceful student demonstrators.

International schools have told teachers to be “very careful about maintaining a neutral stance, and not saying anything inappropriate on social media,” one teacher said.

Singing political songs, displaying political slogans and forming human chains are banned at Hong Kong schools, while some books thought to be politically sensitive have been removed from public libraries and schools.

Protesters in Hong Kong
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Teachers are concerned that the political climate may force them to leave their jobs, or that schools will go out of business altogether.

“It is a sad and scary development,” a teacher said. “Hong Kong has changed overnight in this respect,” added another.