Survey assessed public's awareness and understanding of the Basic Law
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A recent Government survey on the public's understanding of the Basic Law reveals that 79.4 per cent of the general public and 80.2 per cent of all students had some/good knowledge of the Basic Law or had heard of the Basic Law. The corresponding figures for teachers and civil servants were 99.8 per cent and 99.7 per cent respectively.
The survey, commissioned by the Constitutional Affairs Bureau with assistance and technical advice from the Census and Statistics Department, was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2000.
"The objective of the exercise is to ascertain the level of understanding of the Basic Law among the general public and three specific target groups - students, teachers and civil servants, and to evaluate the effectiveness of various promotional measures," a Government spokesman said today (May 16).
"The survey findings provide a useful basis to facilitate the Government in its effort to promote better understanding of the Basic Law," he added.
"While we are encouraged by the finding results, there is no room for complacency as the survey shows that: 20.6 per cent of the general public and 30 per cent of students thought that they needed to know more about the Basic Law; and that 20.6 per cent of the general public and 19.8 per cent of students claimed that they had never heard of the Basic Law."
Among the general public who claimed that they had never heard of the Basic Law, 64.3 per cent belonged to one or more of the following four groups: people aged 60 or above; retired persons; home-makers; those with education level at primary school or below.
Among the students who claimed that they had never heard of the Basic Law, 60.2 per cent were aged 12 or below. Students in lower classes were more likely not to have heard of the Basic Law.
"People who had lived in Hong Kong for a shorter period of time were more likely not to have heard of the Basic Law," the spokesman said.
The spokesman pointed out that the survey confirmed that television(TV) was the most effective medium for the promotion of the Basic Law.
The survey showed that most respondents obtained Basic Law information through TV, including the Government's Announcements of Public Interest (APIs) on TV (74.6 per cent of the general public; 64.1 per cent of students; 84.9 per cent of teachers; and 85.3 per cent of civil servants), and other TV programmes (47.8 per cent of the general public; 37.6 per cent of students; 60.2 per cent of teachers; and 51.4 per cent of civil servants).
On the means of promotion, TV, radio and newspapers were the most preferred channels to learn the Basic Law. Many teachers and civil servants considered Basic Law related training and self-learning materials effective in enhancing their understanding of the Basic Law.
Turning to the promotion of the Basic Law through cyber means, the spokesman said that among those who had used the Internet in the past 12 months, about one-third were aware of the Government's Basic Law Homepage, and about two-fifths of those who were aware of the Homepage had visited it.
He said that with the survey findings, the Government's future efforts to promote the Basic Law would be more focused.
To address the specific needs of the different target groups as revealed by the survey, the Government would take the following measures:
* For the general public, more TV/radio APIs and programmes, and educational packages will be produced. Future publicity will target also the elderly people and those with low education level.
* For students, the promotion of the Basic Law will be further strengthened through the school curriculum and extra-curricular activities in primary and secondary schools.
* For civil servants, more multi-media channels, including web-based learning mode, will be used to promote the Basic Law within the civil service.
* For teachers, more training and resource materials will be provided to increase their understanding of the Basic Law and to help them teach the Basic Law in schools.
An executive summary of the survey findings is available on the Basic Law Homepage (http://www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/front.html).
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