Preventive education – the first line of defence against corruption

Nurturing positive values at an early age

Apart from being up-to-date, preventive education should also start at an early age and be reinforced continuously at various stages. Throughout the past 40-odd years, youth integrity education has been a priority for the ICAC.

"It is the ICAC's firm belief that by introducing positive values at an early age, young people will be able to resist the temptation of corruption in future and contribute to a probity culture in the society," Mr Ng said.

However, ICAC Annual Surveys over the years have shown that while young people have a low tolerance to corruption, their tolerance level is still slightly higher than that of respondents in other age groups.

According to Mr Ng, a possible reason is that young people, and even their parents, might not have personally come across corruption and the sufferings it could cause: "To the young generations, corruption is a remote and abstract matter. They are more vigilant to other livelihood issues such as education, employment and housing."

To pass on the virtue of integrity, the CRD has always attached great importance to moral education for young people. Teaching packages and relevant activities tailored for kindergarten children, primary school pupils as well as secondary and tertiary students have been produced to tie in with different development stages.

For example, moral education kits and parenting programmes featuring the cartoon rabbit Gee-Dor-Dor have been devised for small children to promote probity messages in schools and at home. In addition, interactive drama performances in secondary schools, the iTeen Leadership and ICAC Ambassador programmes, as well as youth probity groups i-League and the ICAC Club Youth Chapter have been designed for secondary and tertiary students. Through these trainings, young people are expected to exude a positive influence to their peers and pass on the core value of probity by becoming ethical leaders in future.

Inspired by the creativity of young people, a two-year "Youth Integrity Fest" Programme was kicked off by the CRD in 2017.

"We want to raise young people's awareness and nurture an upright personality in them through innovative means. At the same time, we also need to help them understand that they have a role in safeguarding Hong Kong's hard-earned success, which hinges on core values such as probity and integrity," Mr Ng said.