Parents complained after pupils as young as six at a Tuen Mun primary school were left distraught after watching brutal scenes of violence included in the documentary.
Asked about the controversy on Tuesday, Lam said the government would not order teachers to use certain material and officials had only told them that the video was available for their lessons this year on the massacre.
“The Education [Bureau] has the duty to remind schools that since Chinese history is a subject to be learned, what sort of teaching materials are available in the public domain. And that video which has caused some anxiety is something available in the public domain, so they have included it in their teaching materials checklist,” said Lam.
“But I believe the Education Bureau has not mandated that all teaching on this Nanjing Massacre has to show that video. So it is a matter of professional judgement by the teachers.”
Lam said it is not for education officials to tell schools what they should or should not show their students.
“We have very well-trained teachers, we have well-run schools with their own committee and so on. So it is not for the education officials to dictate, or to… provide very detailed guidelines on what to show, when to show, and so on,” she said.