THE next director of education, Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping, inherits a department hit by frequent staff changes. Mrs Yu, 54, currently Director of Buildings, was appointed yesterday to succeed Lam Woon-kwong in January when he becomes Secretary for the Civil Service. With the announcement came news that the Deputy Director of Education, Elaine Chung Lai-kwok, is expected to leave the department next month. Her post is to be filled by Senior Assistant Director of Education, Kwan Ting-fai. Educationists have warned that the Education Department's frequent shake-ups will hinder education policy. Mr Lam will have spent only about a year in the department when he leaves. Legislator Cheung Man-kwong said: 'I hope she can lead the department through 1997 and not take the new seat like it's some game of musical chairs.' The first woman director of education designate said she had expressed the same wish to the Government. Mrs Yu shook her head when asked if she would accept another post if it were offered. 'For any civil servant at any post, it would be beneficial to the department if the appointment can straddle 1997. This will allow a stable transition,' she said. Mrs Yu said she understood educationists were concerned about the improvement of education, maintenance of teachers and administrators' continuity, and the improvement of the teaching of English, Chinese and Putonghua to better prepare students for the transition. While Mrs Yu admitted she lacked any formal and professional education training, she said she had been a part-time teacher and dealt with some educational policies and programmes in her previous jobs in the Government. 'And I'm locally born and educated. 'I and many of my family members are the beneficiaries of the local education system,' she said. Mrs Yu joined the civil service in 1965 and has headed the ICAC's community relations department, been deputy director of Urban Services and deputy secretary for Health and Welfare. Mrs Yu has been described as a tough woman who has dealt with a number of fatal construction collapse accidents and protests of rooftop residents over the past 21 months she has been with the Buildings Department. While the next director of buildings will be selected from eligible professional officers in the Lands and Works groups of departments, Mrs Yu said it was not because of any lack of sufficient candidates at the Buildings Department. She said the procedure was in common with recent practice.