The Working Group on Patriotic Education under the Constitution & Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee (CBLPSC) held its first meeting today, with a view to harnessing collective wisdom and insights on the work strategy, direction and plan of implementing patriotic education.

The committee's Chairman and Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki said the clear objective set down by the working group at today's meeting is to make patriotism with affection to the country and Hong Kong a mainstream core value in the city, enabling the spirit of patriotism to take root in society and people's hearts such that the public would proactively and consciously safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

He noted that on taking forward patriotic education in Hong Kong, the working group has set a clear direction - to dovetail with the Patriotic Education Law of the People's Republic of China, while at the same time adjust suitably having regard to the actual circumstances in Hong Kong. The working group will correspondingly tender advice on policy measures for effectively promoting patriotic education.

Mr Chan emphasised: “Patriotic education is a long-term work that requires continuous and dedicated efforts.

“The working group will take into consideration the characteristics of different groups in society, and adopt diverse and appropriate methods to assist the CBLPSC in taking forward patriotic education in an all-round manner, so as to comprehensively establish and robustly promote the mainstream values characterised by patriotism with affection for our country and Hong Kong and in conformity with the principle of 'one country, two systems'.”

The working group will set up four sub-groups to carry out co-ordination and research work in four aspects: school education; local community; history, politics, economy and culture; and media publicity.

It will commence work in two areas: to leverage the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China as an entry point with an aim to enhancing the awareness of patriotism of the whole society; and to perform overall co-ordination and conduct research, including setting up a designated email address to invite the community to suggest how to promote patriotic education more effectively.