My Take | Education chief is dodging his responsibilities
Eddie Ng Hak-kim believes blame for policy failures should be shouldered by the whole government, but he couldn’t be more wrong
People should always take responsibility for what they do. A chef is responsible for the quality of his dishes, even if the restaurant is ultimately liable. I may be a lowly hack, but I am still fully accountable for what I write.
This is especially so when you are high up in the hierarchy of an organisation. When you are a minister with a policy portfolio, you can’t say the whole government is responsible for your failure. That is why I find a statement from Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim extraordinary. He was responding to perceived criticism by his former boss Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who is running for chief executive.
Ng said: “For important education policies, the Education Bureau of course assumes full responsibility. But in the course of implementation, we need the entire government to support us, in terms of resources and policy.
“The policies could not have been implemented without support from the whole government.”
For sure, I can’t publish without the resources of the paper. Ng can’t do a thing without the support of the government. Still, he is fully accountable.