【明報專訊】THE senior managers of the National Education Services Centre (NESC) say the Chinese Model National Conditions Teaching Manual they have published presents China's general situation in a positive light in order to balance all the negative stories that are flooding the national education market. Such being the NESC managers' attitude, it is no wonder that the content of the manual is biased.
The Education Bureau prescribes that national education materials must enable students to see things from different angles. NESC's manual clearly fails to measure up to this criterion. For instance, it describes the CCP government as one of "progress, selflessness and solidarity". Now according to the Education Bureau's requirements, after introducing the merits of democratic centralism, the manual should also mention its demerits, such as absolute corruption resulting from absolute power, which is not just a theory, but a fact observed in the former Soviet Union and the present CCP government.
At the same time, after highly commending the CCP government, the manual carries a column titled "Bitter Party Struggles Victimise the People", in which it is said that, under the American democratic system, the Republican and Democratic parties often engage in partisan struggles, each trying to vote down bills introduced by the other, to the detriment of the people. Even if there is substance in this statement, there is universal consensus about the merits of a two-party political system, which must also be set out to comply with the Education Bureau's requirement for a pluralistic approach. But nothing of that sort can be found in the manual, which is therefore totally unacceptable.
The senior managers of NESC are united in voicing their opposition to Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim's judgment that parts of the manual are biased. Yeung Yiu-chung, chairman of the centre, goes so far as to declare that "the Secretary for Education should not have the final say" as to whether the manual is biased or not. If NESC were not subsidised by the government, Yeung would have every right to ignore the Secretary for Education's judgment, and his centre would also have every right to publish as many biased national education manuals as their resources might permit. However, since the two national education centres run by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers (HKFEW) receive an annual government subsidy of more than $13 million, their work must be subject to public supervision.
The brainwashing manual is evidence that the HKFEW receives government subsidy and engages itself in biased political propaganda. And judging by what is known, there are some shady goings-on between the HKFEW and the government.
In addition to this HKFEW case, there have been in recent years many instances in which public resources are rather too readily granted to the establishmentarian camp. Take, for example, the district councils dominated by establishmentarians. Many establishmentarian district councillors easily obtain government grants in the name of holding social functions, which enable them to use public money to solicit the local inhabitants' support.
Such covert and almost unethical practices are eroding the principle of impartiality, justice, and openness cherished in Hong Kong. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying professes to be committed to clean government. He would be doing society a good service if he could put a stop to this practice of using taxpayers' money for obscure purposes.
明報社評 2012.07.11﹕教材偏頗不合格 教局勿資助政治洗腦
國民教育服務中心（下稱國教中心）負責人表示，他們出版的《中國模式國情專題教學手冊》（下稱《手冊》）正面表述國情，以平衡充斥市面的負面教材云云。國教中心以這般思維編製《手冊》，則內容片面偏頗，就不足為奇。
教育局就國民教育教材，要求必須讓學生有多角度思考。以此準則檢視《手冊》內容，明顯不符合要求。例如，《手冊》把中共政權形容為「進步、無私與團結的執政集團」，本來，正面表述民主集中制優點之後，按教育局的要求，理應提出民主集中制一些缺點，例如絕對權力導致絕對腐敗等現象，已經不單是理論，而是已見諸蘇聯和中共政權的情况。
另外，《手冊》高度肯定中共現政權之後，有「政黨惡鬥，人民當災」一欄，指出美國民主制度之下，共和、民主兩黨常為意氣之爭，投票否決對方提出的議案而影響民生，即使這個描述有事實為據，但是兩黨政治的好處早有公論，按多角度要求，《手冊》應該羅列出來，現在付諸闕如。因此，《手冊》根本就不合格。
教育局長吳克儉指《手冊》部分內容偏頗，國教中心負責人齊聲反駁，中心主席楊耀忠更表示，《手冊》內容是否偏頗，「局長不是『官說了算』」。其實，楊耀忠可以做到不是局長說了算，只要國教中心不受政府資助，則出版10本、100本這樣偏頗的《手冊》，是國教中心有本事；不過，現在教聯會名下兩處國教中心，每年平均收取政府超過1300萬元資助，則它的工作，就要受到公衆監察。
政治洗腦《手冊》，揭露教聯會收取政府資助，從事偏頗的政治宣傳，從已知情况看來，教聯會與政府的互動和關係曖昧。
除了教聯會，近年發生不少公共資源向建制陣營傾斜的事例。例如由建制陣營控制的區議會，不少建制派區議員以申辦活動為名，輕易就取得撥款，使公帑成為建制派籠絡居民的資源。
這些欠缺透明度或近乎私相授受的運作，正在侵蝕香港的「公平、公正、公開」原則。特首梁振英聲言致力廉潔奉公，如能遏止一些不明不白公帑去向的歪風，會有積極作用和意義。
Glossary
commend﹕to publicly praise
readily﹕quickly and without difficulty
covert﹕If something is covert, it is secret or hidden in a way that it is hard to notice.
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