Hong Kong’s teachers say that they are living in fear as the territory’s pro-democracy protests rumble on, with some not daring to discuss the movement and others anxious that they could even lose their jobs if they are caught supporting it.
The education sector has always been at the vanguard of the financial hub’s pro-democracy fight, with teachers and students taking to the streets in 2012 to oppose a government order for schools to teach classes that praised China’s communist history while criticizing democracy movements.
Out of the 6,500 people arrested since the wave of protests that started in June last year, about one-third are students and about 80 are teachers, police said.
Photo: AFP
Millions have participated in demonstrations sparked by opposition to a now-abandoned proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China, protests that have morphed into wider demands for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
Primary-school teacher Nelson is facing disciplinary proceedings for writing Facebook posts critical of the police, telling reporters that he is under investigation by the Hong Kong Education Bureau following an anonymous tip.
Nelson, who asked to be identified with a pseudonym, has no idea who made the complaint, although the posts were only viewable to his Facebook friends.
The complainant — who said they were a parent — presented screen grabs of Nelson’s private posts expressing anger at police behavior.
After their own probe, Nelson’s school confirmed that he had not discussed politics in class with students — but the education bureau is still pushing him to explain every post.
“I think they [the authorities] have gone too far... When I get off work, I am off duty. Just like the police, when they are off-duty, they can also express their views on Weibo,” Nelson said.
He has now deactivated his Facebook account and has become extra careful with what he posts on other networks, including not writing the word “police.”
His caution echoes that of some Cathay Pacific personnel last year who said that they were deleting their social media accounts after former colleagues said that they were fired for supporting pro-democracy protesters.
Earning more than HK$30,000 (US$3,862) a month from his first permanent teaching job, Nelson fears losing his post, while waiting for the authority’s final verdict.
His and his family’s personal information have also been disclosed online, leading to dozens of menacing calls a day.
“Some threatened that they knew where I live and told me to ‘watch out,’” Nelson said.
Hong Kong Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung (楊潤雄) has vowed harsher disciplinary action for arrested teachers — including revoking their teaching licenses — and spoke about what he called “a small number of black sheep in the education sector.”
Yeung told lawmakers that most of the complaints about teachers’ professional misconduct involved “inappropriate messages posted on social media, such as hate, malicious or abusive messages and messages that promote violence.”
Yeung said that what the education bureau has been doing did not violate teachers’ freedom of speech, because “the moral values displayed by teachers in a private forum are also part of their professional conduct.”
However, he has also said that “using biased teaching materials” could trigger an investigation, leading to concerns that classes about protests, democracy and social justice movements might be risky.
By the end of November last year, the education bureau had received 123 complaints against teachers. They upheld 44 of them and took follow-up action in 13 cases, including the issuing of warning letters.
Two government school teachers were suspended from their positions, while two others have resigned during probes.
The government is trying to silence teachers, Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union president Fung Wai-wah (馮偉華) said.
“The government’s mistakes in handling the extradition bill have led to huge conflicts in society. However, it doesn’t admit that it’s at fault and shifts the blame onto the education sector and makes us a scapegoat,” Fung said.
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