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Students in Hong Kong as young as six years old will be taught to love their "motherland" under a new school curriculum released by the city's Education Bureau (EDB) on Nov. 30, Bloomberg reported.

The 89-page document requires primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong to instil the qualities of "law-abidingness, empathy, diligence and love of country in their pupils".

The newly-introduced curriculum also emphasises cultivating "a sense of national identity", with the word appearing over a dozen times in the document.

"Hong Kong is an indispensable part of China, schools have the responsibility to nurture students' sense of national identity", the EDB said in the document.

Mentioning the social and political unrest, the curriculum further stressed the need to "put more force into the roll-out of citizen education".

"Appreciate Chinese culture and traditional values"

Additionally, students will also be required to understand Chinese history "correctly" and learn about mainland China's constitution, culture and values.

Emphasising the need to "strengthen students' understanding of their country from a young age", the EDB added that it would "assist" students to learn how to "appreciate Chinese culture and traditional values".

Students are also expected to respect China's national symbols such as the flag, the national anthem, and the national emblem.

" (...) Construct (students') sense of national identity, (they should) understand that as a Chinese citizen, they have the responsibility to defend the country. "

Education on national security law

China had previously blamed Hong Kong's education system for fostering dissent and fuelling the 2019 democracy protests against the Chinese Communist Party's increasing control over the city, Bloomberg reported.

On Feb. 4, Hong Kong's EDB reportedly announced measures to instil a sense of patriotism in kindergarten-age children through "story-telling, role-playing, drawing, singing, dancing and other activities".

They will also be taught to memorise offences that are criminalised under the China-imposed national security law.

Meanwhile, the city's Education Secretary Kevin Yeung said on Oct. 15 that teachers in Hong Kong may have to pass a test on the vaguely-worded national security law.

4,460 students and 987 teachers left Hong Kong schools

Hong Kong Free Press reported on Dec. 3 that secondary schools in Hong Kong lost 4,460 students and 987 teachers in the last academic year.

The sum averages to about 32 students and seven teachers per school, out of the 140 secondary schools which were surveyed.

The principals of the 140 secondary schools were "not very optimistic" about future trends, and only 20 per cent of them believed that the trend would ease.

According to the survey, about 60 per cent of the students who withdrew from school were leaving the special administrative region, while the number of emigrating teachers was seven times more than the previous year.

In comparison to statistics in previous academic years, the turnover of teachers also “soared” from around 500 to 987.

The survey said the issue of teachers' turnover and leaving Hong Kong is a reflection of the problems of "brain drain" faced by the city.

It further added that the brain drain will affect the future development of Hong Kong as talent "has been a very important resource" for the city.

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Top image via Global Times & Hong Kong Education Bureau website