Education authority concerned internet corrupting youth values

Cheong Man Fai (left) and Io Iok Fong

The influence of the Internet on the values of Macau’s younger generation is a growing concern for officials in charge of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ).

The chief of the DSEJ’s Department of Youth, Cheong Man Fai, made the acknowledgment during yesterday’s press conference after the Youth Council’s plenary meeting.

“The Internet is twisting the values of young people. We are trying to see what we can do in order to correct this problem for them not to deviate [from desirable values],” Cheong said when commenting on issues the bureau found to be concerning in the implementation of the “Macau Youth Policy 2012-2020” plan.

Questioned by the Times on the topic and what the DSEJ proposes doing about it, the official added, “the Internet can profoundly influence the values of young people in several aspects. At this moment we cannot do much about it. What we can do is to cultivate correct judgment and correct reasoning from the youth.”

According to Cheong, this was one of the aspects that was targeted with comments from Sun Yat-Sen University, the institution in charge of the plan’s mid- term evaluation report.

“Sun Yat-Sen University also gave us opinions on this matter [during the mid-term review]. We would like to focus on the cultivation of good judgment in young people. That is our long-term goal,” Cheong reaffirmed, noting that “raising the capacity of independent thinking” was one of the areas included in the plan which will conclude by 2020.

Although Cheong acknowledged the concern and interest in addressing the topic, the official could not explain how the bureau expects to develop the topic, nor what activities it would use to do so.

Cheong noted that when the mid-term review occurred, the university issued a total of eight opinions from specialists on aspects the government should improve upon, reinforce or change.

The 2012-2020 plan included a focus on four major areas, including, “The Promotion of Social Participation,” “Stimulation of Physical and Mental Growth,” “Creation of a Warming Atmosphere,” and “Promotion of Social Mobility.”

According to Cheong, the plan developed into a total of 270 projects and 10 measures in 2014, when Chief Executive Chui Sai On announced the creation of an interdepartmental group involving 12 public services and departments to follow-up on the action plan.

Nevertheless, the official observed that the plan had mostly developed into “attention to society, to the State and to the Country.”

Division head of the DSEJ’s Department of Youth, Io Iok Fong, elaborated on the topic, noting that among the 270 projects developed, there were activities “regarding the Basic law and other diverse laws of Macau in order to raise the judicial awareness of the youth,” as well as “collaboration with the Health Bureau on smoking awareness and its consequences and also with Sports Bureau on topics such as illegal betting on football matches.”

NEW PLAN, SAME PURPOSE

Questioned by the media on the topic, Cheong noted that the final evaluation of the 2012-2020 plan is being prepared and will be subjected to a public consultation on how the plan is to develop after 2020 in the near future.

As Cheong noted, “in 2020 we are going to enter on a new phase of these policies,” for which the DSEJ is now gathering a group of specialists. The specialists will build upon the study and compose a draft plan, which will enter public consultation.

Io added that the specialist team should be ready as soon as next month and the public consultation document should be ready during the first half of 2020.

For the time being, the officials did not want to expand on areas or topics that could be included in the new Youth Policy, with Io saying, “the Greater Bay Area, the reinforcement of the sentiment of love for the motherland, as well as the development of a national consciousness and [knowledge of] Chinese history could be new topics added.”

Io added that during the mid- term review, the Sun Yat-Sen University specialists had also suggested these possibilities. In fact, among the initiatives and the range of activities developed during the current plan, a large number included topics such as national education and the “cultivation of the love for the motherland.”
In late May, during an activity said to be included in the plan, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam inaugurated the “Pavilion of the Sentiment of Love for the Motherland” at the Cheng I building at Ilha Verde, together with several other officials, including DSEJ director Lou Pak Sang, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government of the PRC in Macau, Xue Xiaofeng, the head of the Bureau of Policy Studies of the Commissariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in Macau, Ran Bo, and the chief of the Macao Army Garrison Office of the PLA, Colonel Peng Wei.

According to the DSEJ, the venue is meant to “cultivate in young people a sense of identity and belonging to society and country, [and help them] to understand and respect their country and culture” and “to attend to the needs of young people to have a reasonable space to carry out activities.”

Local specialists wanted for Macau Youth Policy review

Chief of the Department of Youth at the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), Cheong Man Fai, revealed at the press conference that followed the plenary meeting of the Youth Council yesterday that the DSEJ is preparing a team of local specialists to perform the final review of the Macau Youth Policy 2012-2020 and draft a new policy plan for after 2020.

According to Cheong, the specialists “should be local people with a very rooted knowledge of Macau youth and its development.”

Questioned by the media on the requirements, given that the 2016 mid-term plan review was assigned to the mainland’s Sun Yat-Sen University, Cheong said, “the Sun Yat-Sen University did the mid-term review because we wanted to enlist a third-party,” adding, “their specialists are also very knowledgeable about the cities of the Greater Bay Area region, as well as Macau and Hong Kong.”

Cheong added that the DSEJ is “very confident about the professional opinions of the team,” remarking, “they are very professional and know how to conduct this kind of study very well. This has nothing to do with the reinforcement of the sentiment of love for the motherland.”

She said that the invitation was extended to the university, in order to obtain the perspective of a third-party for comparison with the perspectives of local academics. RM