Hong Kong schools are placed on the front line to prevent ‘soft resistance’

Hong Kong students are affected by what officials describe as "soft resistance," with Secretary for Education Christine Choi warning that young people may develop "extreme, biased" values due to online rumors and messaging. The Education Bureau is actively implementing teacher training programs to help educators identify "soft resistance" while schools are being directed to incorporate national education into daily teaching to strengthen students' "cultural confidence, national identity, and awareness of national security. " This initiative matters because officials view schools as the "frontline" in preventing "hostile forces from infiltrating" educational institutions, with Choi specifically citing the case of children's books published by a disbanded speech therapists' union that were ruled seditious in 2022.