Briefs | Alexis Tam wants more patriotic education

Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam wants Macau’s higher education sector to improve its patriotic education of university students. Earlier this week, Tam expressed his hope for strengthened communication between mainland China and Macau. In particular, the Secretary wants more local university students to visit mainland China to deepen their knowledge of the country’s history, Chinese ethnicities, Chinese culture and tradition, and to improve the students’ sense of belonging and pride regarding their Chinese identity. Tam wants university students to take advantage of the opportunities the Greater Bay Area can bring to them.  The education sector was not the only sector targeted to strengthen education in Love the Country and Love Macau. All sectors in the local community were urged to progress toward patriotic education for Macau youth.

UM installed surveillance cameras in 19 classrooms

Nineteen classrooms in the University of Macau (UM) are equipped with CCTV surveillance cameras, according to Song Yonghua, rector of the institution. As of last June, UM has installed a total of 307 CCTV cameras, including 144 around the perimeter between Macau and Zhuhai. Replying to lawmaker José Maria Pereira Coutinho’s interpellation, Song claimed that, considering that there is no emergency justifying the installation of cameras inside classrooms, the school decided to not install CCTV surveillance cameras in classrooms. However, in the same interpellation, the UM rector noted that the 19 cameras in certain “classrooms” are used for mainland national CET4 and CET6 exams, and that these cameras are only to be used during the exams.

Police action does not harm Macau’s tourism image 

The head of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Helena de Senna Fernandes wants the public not to “worry too much” about Macau’s image following police activity in Senado Square. On Monday, the police authority deployed an unusual number of officers to Senado Square for the “never was” stand in support of the Hong Kong protests. Senna Fernandes believes that the police authority carried out their activity in accordance with police instructions. She wants the public not to worry about Macau’s tourism image because of this, adding that there are no special concerns for Macau residents or tourists provided everyone respects the law.