Education Bureau demands Hong Kong schools help arrested students ‘get back on the right track’
蘋果日報 2020/06/17 23:05
Hong Kong’s Education Bureau has demanded schools to help students arrested or convicted over the ongoing protests to get their lives back on track.
The bureau said it was “distressing and worrying” to see students accounting for 40% of the total number of arrested cases along with an increase in the number of student prosecutions and convictions as well.
“The students’ radical or even unlawful acts may be caused by a number of complicated reasons. Apart from [imparting] knowledge, schools are also responsible for cultivating the virtues of students,” the bureau said in a letter, entitled “Caring for Students and Helping them Get Back on the Right Track” and sent to all schools in the city on Tuesday.
“For students who have deviations in behavior or even values, schools have the responsibility to strengthen the work in assisting the students to develop positive thinking as well as good character and behavior.”
The letter urged schools to “bring them back to the right track” by developing a long-term personalised guidance and discipline plan to strengthen education on positive values, positive thinking and a proper attitude in social communication, and to maintain close contact with their parents.
Schools were also reminded in the letter that it was inappropriate to discuss with the affected students how to handle their testimony and litigation. The bureau requested that schools fill in an attached form to report on their progress on items including “Foster a harmonious and caring school culture,” “Enhance positive education” and “Strengthen moral and personal growth education.”
Education-sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said the bureau violated the spirit of building good relationships with students by accusing students of being in the wrong. He said the bureau should not intervene in how schools taught their students, adding that its request for schools to fill in the progress form would only put teachers in a difficult spot.
Fung Wai-wah, head of the Professional Teachers’ Union, said the bureau’s letter was in fact asking schools to become part of the mechanism of suppressing students. “This can break the trust among students, and they would not dare to speak the truth … It is not our goal in education to make students completely obedient and lacking in dissenting views,” he said.
Meanwhile, in reply to a written question raised by Ip at the Legislative Council, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said that since June last year, 3,600 tertiary students and students under 18 years old and 110 tertiary, secondary and primary school teachers and staff members had been arrested. Yeung said the bureau would review if professional misconduct was involved and look into the teaching registrations of the teachers concerned. He said no teacher had been deregistered to date.
The bureau said it was “distressing and worrying” to see students accounting for 40% of the total number of arrested cases along with an increase in the number of student prosecutions and convictions as well.
“The students’ radical or even unlawful acts may be caused by a number of complicated reasons. Apart from [imparting] knowledge, schools are also responsible for cultivating the virtues of students,” the bureau said in a letter, entitled “Caring for Students and Helping them Get Back on the Right Track” and sent to all schools in the city on Tuesday.
“For students who have deviations in behavior or even values, schools have the responsibility to strengthen the work in assisting the students to develop positive thinking as well as good character and behavior.”
The letter urged schools to “bring them back to the right track” by developing a long-term personalised guidance and discipline plan to strengthen education on positive values, positive thinking and a proper attitude in social communication, and to maintain close contact with their parents.
Schools were also reminded in the letter that it was inappropriate to discuss with the affected students how to handle their testimony and litigation. The bureau requested that schools fill in an attached form to report on their progress on items including “Foster a harmonious and caring school culture,” “Enhance positive education” and “Strengthen moral and personal growth education.”
Education-sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said the bureau violated the spirit of building good relationships with students by accusing students of being in the wrong. He said the bureau should not intervene in how schools taught their students, adding that its request for schools to fill in the progress form would only put teachers in a difficult spot.
Fung Wai-wah, head of the Professional Teachers’ Union, said the bureau’s letter was in fact asking schools to become part of the mechanism of suppressing students. “This can break the trust among students, and they would not dare to speak the truth … It is not our goal in education to make students completely obedient and lacking in dissenting views,” he said.
Meanwhile, in reply to a written question raised by Ip at the Legislative Council, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said that since June last year, 3,600 tertiary students and students under 18 years old and 110 tertiary, secondary and primary school teachers and staff members had been arrested. Yeung said the bureau would review if professional misconduct was involved and look into the teaching registrations of the teachers concerned. He said no teacher had been deregistered to date.
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