Chinese President Xi Jinping watches the military parade during the commemoration activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory over Japan
The show “The Time of the War: Memories of the War Against the Japanese Invasion” will be broadcast live from 9 a.m. this morning by free-to-air TDM channels aimed especially at students.
This event has the purpose of “reminding the citizens of Macau, especially the young ones, of the history of the resistance war in order to awaken for a national conscience within all Chinese people,” the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) said in a statement released yesterday on its website.
Sources from local schools, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Times that “the Education bureau instructed school principals to organize compulsory sessions for pupils to watch TDM’s live feed [today].”
DSEJ explains that “on the live broadcasting day, many schools will organize their students to watch the program as part of a school period dedicated to History class,” putting the emphasis on the fact that this program is to be included in some form of patriotic education that the government is including, not without resistance, in the curriculum of subjects as history.
Scholar and educator Éric Sautedé does not consider this event particularly shocking, if done properly.
By doing “more than showing the parade, the weapons display and the speeches that accompanied it, it would be interesting to talk about the post-war situation and the importance of all that in the past and the actual situation of China,” Sautedé told the Times. He added that “students will surely have difficulties understanding what they are watching and teachers already showed discomfort when approaching the topic due to a lack of proper tools to do so”.
Mr Sautedé sees no problem with viewing this topic in the context of civic education and even history, but mentions that the selected guidelines do not involve a discussion about the historical facts.
Also contacted by the Times, Professor Ana Correia, dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Education, and Coordinator for the Department of Education of the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) expressed her belief that the program is a good initiative as “people’s past is part of their history and cultural heritage.”
“We are our own memories and those memories are the starting point to consider and plan the future,” Prof. Correia said, adding that the fact that several education-related government departments are promoting this event is also a positive sign.
”It proves that there is some coherence around this topic and that there is some vision about education from the government.”
According to Prof. Correia, “Down-to-top measures are always considered better in terms of being more democratic and more accepted but top-to-down guidelines are sometimes good to stimulate some kind of change and real education policy.”
The event is jointly organized by the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture (GSASC), DSEJ and the Tertiary Education Services Office (GAES). It is produced through a partnership between Chinese Cultural Exchange Association (CCEA) and TDM. Three of TDM’s channels will be broadcasting the program, along with an opening speech from the Secretary Alexis Tam.
The show will be held at the convention hall of the Macau Science Center. RM
No Comments