"Back to school" takes on a different meaning on our university campuses nowadays. When the Chinese University of Hong Kong held its inaugural ceremony for the new academic year on Monday, a number of pro-independence slogans and posters were found in many places across the campus, showing some of the students are going back to more than their parents and society have bargained for.

Universities are institutes of higher learning where young people find out how to acquire knowledge that will benefit humanity, and not places where you learn how to go against the law. Judging from participation in separatist activities in recent years, our universities have more or less turned into training schools that supply manpower for such illegal activities as the "Occupy Central" movement and other separatist campaigns.

Some people suggest that since universities uphold freedom of speech, they cannot ban discussion of any subject, including "Hong Kong independence", on campus. But, as we all know, freedom of speech has its limits, as does any other kind of freedom, and that is a universal fact. On campuses in the United States, for example, the subject of racism is particularly sensitive as the US society has always been considered a melting pot of different races. On European campuses, the propaganda for Nazism is a taboo and is even illegal in some countries.

You cannot hide behind freedom of speech when you promote something that is breaching the law. Suggesting tearing Hong Kong away from the motherland is, beyond all doubt, against the Basic Law, which states without ambiguity that the city is an inalienable part of China all along. If the university managements continue to allow such unhealthy propagation of Hong Kong separatism among their students, the start of a new academic year would be tantamount to the launch of another pro-independence brainwashing program. Universities will become hotbeds for trouble - churning out fresh blood for the separatist cause every year.

While the secessionists seem to have lain low after the disqualification of separatist lawmakers and jailing of a number of activists, we must not let our guard down. They have not abandoned their cause and are only regrouping. Much as we would like to mend the divided society, we must stay fully alert against this force. Hong Kong separatism is not something that would pull the community together. On the contrary, it is the very reason for the rift in society. We must not let the separatists regain their momentum and stage a comeback, which is something our society could not afford.

In the long run, the government should introduce national education in schools and more student exchange programs with the mainland to help our young generation understand more about the motherland and enhance their national identity.

(HK Edition 09/05/2017 page12)