People attend a flag raising ceremony at a middle school in Yuen Long of New Territories, Hong Kong, South China, August 11, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

As the Ministry of Education is in its annual process of selecting and dispatching teachers from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, some experts and officials are calling for a boost to education on Chinese history and national identity among students and teachers.

The 2020-21 annual selection of teachers from the Chinese mainland for curriculums including Chinese language studies, history and math for kindergartens and schools of Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions organized by the Ministry of Education (MOE) is ongoing, several teachers and schools involved told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The teachers who will offer instruction and assistance to curriculum building and research at kindergartens and schools of Hong Kong and Macao, could set off in September after the current batch of teachers returns from the two regions.

A history teacher from Anshan, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, who declined to reveal his name told the Global Times they are waiting for further arrangements to be made as the list of teachers to be dispatched has yet to be finalized.

While teachers and officials hailed the annual communication project as having a positive role in enhancing the education quality of Hong Kong and Macao, some experts told the Global Times there is a necessity to increase education content on national identity to address Hong Kong's long-existing flaws in the national education system.

Young school students were found to be a major group who took part in street clashes in Hong Kong last year. The average age of those protesters appears younger than those who joined the 2014 Occupy Central movement.

Hong Kong education officials defended their decision to invalidate a controversial history exam question that asked students whether Japan's invasion of China did more good than harm, citing examination fairness and respect for history.

The question appeared on the history test paper of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination on May 14, drawing a flood of criticism from education workers and experts who said that it was like asking Western students whether they thought Hitler did more good than harm to Europe.

Seeing young Hong Kong people lacking an understanding of the country's history, culture and current affairs is common, and the central government should consider establishing special agencies to help them get a sense of national identity, Tam Yiu-chung, former chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) told the Global Times in a previous interview.

Tam brought the proposal to the two sessions which said some government agencies or non-profit organizations could be established to push forward Chinese history and culture education.

Enhancing national identity among young Hong Kong people will facilitate the integrity of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong regarding emotional connections, Li Xiaobing, a Hong Kong studies expert at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times.

As a way of introducing more education on national identity, Kevin Choy, a young Hong Kong resident suggested the central government could arrange more communication events between teachers and students in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

"What you see with your eyes is more believable than what you hear in the news. You can only make a judgment about whether Hong Kong or the Chinese mainland is good or bad after seeing for yourself," Choy told the Global Times.

The selection of teachers from the mainland started in 2008, according to the MOE. Each year the ministry selects roughly 50 or 60 teachers from schools and kindergartens across the country, media reported.

In 2019, a total of 57 teachers were chosen from 16 provinces and regions on the Chinese mainland to go to Hong Kong and Macao.