Fung Ping Kuen (left), Deputy Director of "One Country, Two Systems" Research Centre of MPI, presented a souvenir to Ho Lek Fai (right), Director of Discipline of Estrela do Mar School.
The “One Country, Two Systems” Research Centre of the Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) held lectures named “Constitution and Basic Law on Campus” at Escola Estrela do Mar and Xin Hua Evening Secondary School on 1 and 2 March 2021 respectively. The aim of the lectures is to promote the rule of law and law-abiding awareness among young students through various levels of publicity and promotion, to foster young people's recognition of and respect for the Constitution and the Basic Law, and to enhance the overall legal literacy of the community. The two sessions also received recognition of great importance from the above-mentioned schools.
Mr. Ho Lek Fai, the Director of Discipline of the Escola Estrela do Mar, said that the school had always attached great importance to Basic Law education and had conducted courses on the Basic Law throughout the school. The lectures held by the Centre were highly consistent with the school's educational policy of attaching great importance to Basic Law education and civic education. Mr. Lei Meng Kei, the Headmaster of the Xin Hua Evening Secondary School, expressed that the school has always been encouraging students to develop a correct understanding of the Constitution and the Basic Law, which are the fundamental constitutional legal documents of Macao. He highly recognized this right timing of the lecture by the Centre.
At the beginning of the lectures, Ms. Ho Man Ieng, the lecturer, explained thoroughly the legal status of the Constitution and the Macao Basic Law. She emphasized the fact that the Constitution and the Basic Law together construct the constitutional foundation of the Macao SAR, and affirmed the legal validity of the Basic Law as a national law. At same time, she also clarified the relationship and operation mode between the administrative power, the legislative power and the judicial power within the MSAR. During the second half of the lectures, the focus was on the fundamental rights of the Macao residents, such as the freedom of choice of occupation, the freedom to engage in education, the freedom of religious belief, the freedom of marriage, the right to form and raise a family, the right of procreation, and the right to vote. Ms. Ho stated that, these fundamental rights of the Macao residents have been safeguarded under the implementation of the Macao Basic Law in the past 20 years after the Handover.
The lectures in Escola Estrela do Mar and Xin Hua Evening Secondary School were the first two lectures of “Constitution and Basic Law on Campus” by the “One Country, Two Systems” Research Centre of MPI. The lectures received positive support from the teachers and students. MPI hopes that through this series of lectures and other initiatives, young people can benefit from sharing the experience and knowledge acquired over the years by the "One Country, Two Systems" Research Centre, so that this knowledge can be a contribution to society.
