The Macau Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) yesterday hosted an educational campaign for local students marking the nation’s Constitution Day, December 4, according to a DSEDJ statement last night.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing passed a decision during a meeting in November 2014 designating December 4 as the nation’s Constitution Day.
Yesterday’s event, which was held at the Macau Science Centre (MSC) in Nape, was organised by the bureau in collaboration with several local education associations. The statement said that the educational campaign aimed to raise local students’ understanding of the Constitution and the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Basic Law.
Yesterday’s event was attended by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, DSEDJ Director Kong Chi Meng, other senior DSEDJ officials, and representatives from the several education groups.
Delivering a speech, Kong noted that his bureau has published supplementary textbooks and other teaching materials for local schools on the Constitution.
Kong also pledged that the local government will “absorb” the essence and spirit of the nation’s newly-enacted Patriotic Education Law with the aim of raising local students’ sense of national identity, according to the statement.
The nation’s Patriotic Education Law, which was passed by the NPC Standing Committee in October, will take effect on January 1 next year. It will not be formally implemented in the MSAR as it is not included in the MSAR Basic Law’s Annex 3 which lists the national laws, resolutions and regulations applied here.
Several representatives from the local education sector also delivered their respective speeches during yesterday’s event.
The event also awarded prizes to secondary school students who won a knowledge contest on the Constitution and the MSAR Basic Law.
According to the statement, Kong Wa, a deputy director of the University of Macau’s (UM) Centre for Constitutional Law and Basic Law Studies, gave a lesson during yesterday’s event about safeguarding national security from the viewpoint of the Constitution and the MSAR Basic Law.
Kong Wa, a deputy director of the University of Macau’s (UM) Centre for Constitutional Law and Basic Law Studies, gives a lesson to participants of yesterday’s educational event at the Macau Science Centre (MSC) marking the nation’s Constitution Day. – Photo: DSEDJ
