Dire warning to pro-separatist teachers
Top News | Staff Reporter 15 Aug 2016Teachers were warned yesterday that their professional qualifications will be stripped if they dare promote independence for Hong Kong at schools.
The harsh warning was issued by the Academy of School Managers, of which Executive Councilor Bernard Charnwut Chan, pictured, is honorary chairman in response to a new localist concern group that wants to start a debate on whether teachers should be allowed to teach the controversial issue in classrooms.
"Some people, including those who work in education or are key persons at educational bodies, have openly advocated or even begun to organize groups on campus encouraging Hong Kong's separation from mainland China," the statement said, without naming anyone.
The academy said it was "firmly opposed" to such "violation of educational ethics," which it stated breach the Education Ordinance and the Basic Law.
It also called on school administrators to closely monitor such practices and step up prevention, and the Education Bureau to deal with them strictly "to avoid wrong or unlawful thoughts from spreading on school grounds, harming society, and consigning Hong Kong to a hopeless abyss."
In response, an Education Bureau spokesman said: "For teachers involved in unlawful activity or misconduct, the bureau will follow its existing mechanism in reviewing the qualifications as the registered instructor."
