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The Committee also actively encourages community groups, through its Community Participation Scheme, to promote civic awareness among young people. Last year, 28 projects involving or aimed at young people shared some $1m in sponsorship from the Committee. I am pleased to note that these efforts and Hong Kong's approach to civic education have won warm praise from the UN committees monitoring Hong Kong's adherence to the various international human rights treaties.
Last year, the Government initiated a major review on the way in which civic education is taught in schools and new Guidelines on Civic Education in Schools were endorsed, after public consultation, by the Curriculum Development Council in April this year. The plan is to implement them in schools from September 1996. As a reflection of Government's policy on civic education, the Guidelines set out clearly the aims, objectives, the conceptual and curriculum frameworks, the modes of implementation as well as the evaluation strategies of civic education in schools. A significant feature is that they have been written from the perspective of our students. They provide a direction for schools to develop their own civic education programmes, through classroom teaching and extra-curricular activities.
The Guidelines embrace the concepts enunciated by the Hon Lo Suk-ching in his motion today and illustrate the Government's clear desire to groom our young people to be responsible citizens, independently minded and socially aware. They
aim:
first of all, to enable students to understand how the individual, as a citizen, relates to the family, the neighbouring community, the regional community, the national community and the world; and to develop in them positive attitudes and values conducive to the development of a sense of belonging to Hong Kong and China, so that they are ready to contribute to the betterment of society, the state and the world;
secondly, to help students understand the characteristics of Hong Kong society and the importance of democracy, liberty, equality, human rights and the rule of law, and to employ these concepts in daily life; and
lastly, to develop students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills to enable them to analyse social and political issues objectively and to arrive at a rational appraisal of these issues.
Three different modes of implementation of civic education in schools are recommended. Apart from the permeation approach now most commonly adopted by schools, the specific-subject approach and integrated-subject approach are included. Schools are advised to devote a definite amount of time and resources to the implementation of civic education and select one or more modes to achieve the goals of civic education.