A record number of teenage students at the secondary school level say they have a sense of affinity with the motherland, according to a survey recently conducted by the General Association of Chinese Students of Macau and the Macau Youth Research Association.
In 2020, the two organizations interviewed 1,333 middle school students, all of whom were studying in full-day programs, having eventually collected 1,258 valid questionnaires.
By carrying out the survey, the two associations found that an increased number of local middle school students have a sense of affinity with the motherland and with Macau, heightening their sense of national pride and identity.
“Approximately 85% of Macau secondary school students highly agree or agree with the expression ‘I am a citizen of China,’ the highest percentage in the past 10 years. 99.9% of Macau students highly agree or agree with the expression ‘I’m a citizen of Macau’. This figure is the highest ever since the first edition of the survey,” the poll concluded.
The interviewees were asked to give an opinion on the following statements: ‘national identity is very important to me;’ and ‘Macau identity is very important to me.’ Over 70% of the respondents said that they “highly agree” or “agree” regarding the two statements, both also have high records since 2007, when the first survey of this kind was conducted.
“Nearly 70% of the secondary school students said that they would execute their right to vote. It is the first time that this specific index increased historically, representing an 8% growth compared to 2019,” the associations concluded.
The students were asked to describe their attitude towards the statement “country should [be] establish[ed] first then families can be established; no country, no families.”
“75% of Macau secondary school students strongly endorsed the statement or moderately endorsed the statement, with only 12% of Macau secondary school students disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement,” according to the report.
About 70% of them endorse the SAR government’s protection of national security, and 3.2% disagree or highly disagree regarding the topic.
“In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic swept the world. Generally speaking, secondary school students in Macau highly praise the country’s anti-pandemic effectiveness, anti-pandemic spirit and the state’s correct leadership. In the prospects for the economic recovery of countries around the world, Macau secondary schools’ students have the most confidence in our country’s economic recovery and the confidence is far more than that of other countries.
The students are highly satisfied with the efficiency of the government’s pandemic countermeasure effects and highly praise the administration’s pandemic countermeasures,” the report says.
According to the two associations, through data analysis, researchers suggest that the Macau government and other concerned departments should unremittingly maintain and continue creating a patriotic and Macau-loving environment in the city.
Other suggestions include for Macau to continue fostering students’ independent thinking, rational judgement and social responsibility to the country and to the SAR .
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