Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday defended disciplining teachers for promoting anti-China views, after the territory for the first time revoked an educator’s registration over the content of their lessons.
Lam told reporters that she was obliged to protect students from being drawn into the political disputes that have fueled a historic wave of unrest in the former British colony.
She was responding to questions about the Hong Kong Education Bureau’s decision to deregister a primary school teacher accused, according to local media reports, of giving students worksheets about freedom of speech and independence.
Photo: AFP
“Our work has to continue to remove the black sheep from the field of education,” Lam told reporters.
“If there is a very tiny faction of teachers who are using their teaching responsibilities to convey wrong messages to promote misunderstanding about the nation, to smear the country and the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] government without basis, then that becomes a very serious matter,” she said.
The bureau said the teacher’s materials were “not in line with the constitutional and legal status of Hong Kong,” calling the move a “planned act” that harmed students.
“The department will make deregistration decisions after investigations into misconduct to take out bad apples and to safeguard the teaching profession and students’ interests,” the bureau said.
The Professional Teachers’ Union late on Monday in a statement on its Facebook page said that it would help the teacher appeal the decision.
The bureau’s allegations were “totally not in line with the facts,” the union said.
The move is latest in a series of disputes over Hong Kong’s education system, as the Beijing-backed government attempts to gain greater control over what it views as a hotbed of dissent.
Students have long made up a large share of protesters on the territory’s streets, and people under the age of 18 represented almost one-fifth of the roughly 9,000 arrests as of May.
Chinese authorities in Hong Kong have urged officials to “cut off” the “black hands” influencing the local education system.
The bureau did not give details of the material or explain how the teacher had crossed the line, but a report on the primary school by a pro-Beijing newspaper last year featured photographs of a question paper that it said promoted independence.
Two of the questions asked “What is free speech?” and “What would Hong Kong become without free speech?”
Another asked students to summarize arguments made by a pro-independence activist during a television interview.
The deregistered teacher asked students to answer questions about freedom of speech after showing them a video featuring pro-independence activist Andy Chan, (陳浩天) the South China Morning Post reported yesterday, citing a person it did not identify.
Lam highlighted the unprecedented severity of the punishment, saying that it was the first time a teacher had been stripped of the essential credential without allegations of sexual impropriety or other crimes.
Beijing has also called for more patriotic education, while Lam’s administration is looking at overhauling parts of the curriculum it believes are fueling discontent.
Critics say that the moves undermine Hong Kong’s reputation for academic freedom and excellence, fearing China’s heavily censored education system could be imposed on the territory.
Additional reporting by AFP
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
RSS