Foreign English-language teachers working in Hong Kong government schools must swear allegiance to the territory, despite fears that educators would flee the territory amid increasing restrictions.
The Hong Kong Education Bureau said that native-speaking English teachers (NETs) and advisers working in government-run schools must by Tuesday next week sign a declaration to continue working in the coming school year.
Since 2020, Hong Kong has applied oath-taking requirements to an increasing number of jobs, mainly those in the public sector, as a way to fulfil the Chinese government’s demand of loyalty.
Photo: AFP
NETs must declare they will bear allegiance to Hong Kong and uphold the Basic Law — the territory’s constitutional text — as well as be responsible to the government.
“Neglect, refusal or failure” to sign the declaration would lead to contract termination, authorities said on Saturday.
The new declaration would “further safeguard and promote the core values that should be upheld by all government employees” and ensure effective governance, a government spokesperson said.
Hong Kong introduced the NET program in 1997 to improve students’ language skills, and has gradually made NETs standard in primary and secondary schools.
In addition to market-beating salaries, NETs enjoy government allowances and other incentives to ensure retention, which has been a growing problem over the past few years. In April, the government reported that 13 percent of NETs in secondary schools left in the 2020-2021 school year, the highest figure in five years.
However, officials said retention and attrition rates of NETs have been “largely stable.”
Hong Kong Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung (楊潤雄) has also denied that an increasing number of NETs have left due to Hong Kong’s strict “zero COVID-19” strategy.
“There are no substantial grounds for attributing the departure of NETs, or their decision to or not to come to teach in Hong Kong to our compulsory quarantine measure,” he told lawmakers in April.
The loyalty requirement was imposed on civil servants in October 2020 and extended to government staff hired on contract seven months later.
“National security education” is a priority in schools, and some teachers have said they avoid sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
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