to discuss matters regarding the 2020 Singaporean general election sparked controversy and debate. It was sent on the school's Integrated e-Message Board to College Section students, advising them to avoid posting anything related to the general election on social media platforms associated with the school, as well as the students' own social media accounts. A screenshot of the message was leaked and circulated online, stirring debate on topics such as free speech, political opinions and whether youths should be free to engage in political discussions. The incident led to a backlash in which a group of alumni, led by filmmaker Anthony Chen, sent a letter to the school administration to express their disappointment. HCI defended its advice to students in a statement saying, "Our intention is not to silence students' voices, nor to curb their interest in national issues. Instead, we encourage our students to engage actively in discussions and even debates on national issues, in a safe environment." The school refused to comment if disciplinary action had been taken against students who had raised concerns. Homophobic sex education 2022 On 13 July 2022, a school counsellor at the institution gave a talk to secondary 4 students using false content that many deemed to be homophobic. According to reports, amongst the content shown to students was "What are LBGT so proud of?" followed by a list: "58% of homosexuals have problems with intestinal worms", "23% of children with lesbian parents have been sexually abused", "78% of homosexuals have STDs" and "1 in 15 homosexuals is a pedophile". Photos of the presentation quickly went viral and was reported by local press and by rights groups in Singapore. Following the backlash, Hwa Chong released the following statement: "We are aware of the incident which took place during a presentation on sexuality where a staff member incorporated content outside the scope of the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Sexuality Education curriculum into his slides.The views presented were the individual staff's personal perspectives and not representative of the position of the school or MOE. We take a serious view of this incident and have met up with our students to address their concerns. To ensure that such incidents are not repeated, we will also review our processes." The school initially suspended the counsellor from giving further sexuality education presentations. On 2 August 2022, however, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing revealed in a written reply