The term "lying flat" first emerged online in mainland's microblogging site Weibo, referring to a laid-back attitude in work and life.

"The 'lying flat' concept has been worrying as it shall hamper the development of the city in the long term and this wrong concept must be corrected with collaborative effort and value education," Yeung wrote in his blog yesterday.

He also said that online game addiction and fake news have prevailed in society.

In an era of fast-changing technology, he said it is all the more important for Hong Kong to step up "value education" - centered around morality - for students, and cultivate their sense of patriotism from a young age.

In September last year, the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum proposed to prioritize "value education" in the curriculum.

Yeung said its framework will soon be released, aiming to provide all-round guidelines to raise youngsters' sense of patriotism and law-abiding consciousness, and on life, sex and anti-drug education.

The Education Bureau has allocated quality education fund money to help schools nurture a sense of gratitude among students and to encourage them to embrace challenges in life with a positive attitude.

The bureau recently enhanced the funding scheme to subsidize schools' efforts in developing students' sense of patriotism as well as to help teachers and students develop proper approaches when handling news and information they access.

Guidelines and curriculum arrangements for safeguarding national security and national security education were published early this year and the first national security education day was launched on April 15.

Also this year, the citizenship and social development subject replaced liberal studies from secondary four, switching to a focus on national development and lawfulness.