One needs to go no further than two recent jaw-dropping incidents to realize that education in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has gone wildly wrong.

On Aug 24, the grieving mother and grandfather of teenager Chan Yin-lam, whose body was found in the sea off eastern Hong Kong on Sept 22 last year, were rudely insulted and harassed by dozens of political radicals — including a 17-year-old secondary student who gave the two the finger, aside from hurling verbal abuse at them — right outside the court where the two had just attended the Coroner’s Court hearing on the death of the 15-year-old girl.

The SAR government should strengthen national education and the content of Chinese-history curricula, so that students can sufficiently enrich their understanding of their country’s history, culture and heritage, and thus develop a stronger sense of national identity and national sentiments

Instead of offering consolation, as has been the case on any other similar occasion, the mob chose to rub salt in the wounds of the grieving mother and grandfather simply because their testimony did not fit into the radicals’ politically motivated narrative that the girl was murdered by police rather than that she could have committed suicide due to emotional stress or that her death could have been due to other causes. This cruel act — trying to promote a political agenda by inflicting pain on the weak and innocent with abandon — demonstrates the diminishment of humanity among the young political fanatics in the city.

In a more shocking incident showing the loss of humanity and contempt for the law among Hong Kong’s radicals, a black-clad protester doused a 57-year-old man with flammable liquid and set him on fire on Nov 11 during the height of the “black revolution”, leaving the poor man with burns covering 40 percent of his body. The perpetrator and his accomplices committed the heinous crime merely because the man was opposed to their vandalism of MTR facilities.

These two episodes, unimaginable and in no way acceptable in a civilized society, are the result of politicization of campuses — specifically, the deliberate, relentless radicalization of students by politically biased educators.

Exploiting the supervisory loopholes in the education sector, unscrupulous teachers and school administrators who prioritize their own ideological beliefs and political agenda over the well-being of students have been relentlessly brainwashing young students with twisted and toxic ideas over the past two decades. Their systematic indoctrination, which culminated in the open advocacy of “breaking the law to achieve justice”, has radicalized Hong Kong’s younger generation.

Disoriented by the twisted and toxic ideas promoted by political demagogues from the opposition camp, such as Benny Tai Yiu-ting, thousands of students and youth in Hong Kong took part in illegal activities during the “black revolution”. They become the major force behind the yearlong social unrest that plagued the city. According to official statistics, some 9,000 people were arrested by Hong Kong police between June 9, 2019, and May 29 for various protest- or riot-related offenses. Of those arrested, 1,707 were under 18 years of age, and 5,640 were between 18 and 30.

The scourge caused by brainwashing has not ended with the arrest and conviction of lawbreakers. Many more youngsters have been instilled with toxic ideas and twisted values, which could be a time bomb in society. According to a recent survey by the University of Hong Kong of 712 youngsters aged 15 to 25, as many as 44 percent of them approve “illegal and violent” political movements, which alarmingly reflects their distorted values and beliefs.

While the enactment of the National Security Law provides Hong Kong with a mighty shield to ward off separatism, the younger generation, in general, is lacking the correct values — including respect for the law, sense of national identity and patriotism — that are essential for social harmony as well as for maintaining the long-term stability and prosperity of the HKSAR.

The onus is on our society to guide these young people back on the right path. It will take years, if not decades, of effort to mend the twisted values of misguided youngsters. The process will necessarily entail a multipronged approach.

Firstly, the SAR government should strengthen national education and the content of Chinese-history curricula, so that students can sufficiently enrich their understanding of their country’s history, culture and heritage, and thus develop a stronger sense of national identity and national sentiments. To this end, the Education Bureau should conduct an in-depth review of the curricula.

Secondly, the Education Bureau should establish a comprehensive system for appraising educators to prevent politically biased teachers from politicizing campuses by instilling twisted values or toxic ideas in students.

Thirdly, the SAR government should strengthen cooperation with mainland governments at all levels on creating more platforms to promote academic exchanges between young people from the two sides. This will facilitate Hong Kong’s younger generation to gain a correct view on the relationship between the SAR and the mainland, as well as a better understanding of the nation, which will go a long way to shorten the psychological distance between Hong Kong youth and their country.

With the appropriate guidance in place, young people will be more immune to politicization and instigation, and will be less likely to go astray; and those who have been misled are more likely to get back on the right path of life.

The author is a current affairs commentator. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.