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SCMP Reporter

About 100 schools will start the academic year next month without native English-speaking teachers, it emerged yesterday.

 The Education Department will launch a new recruitment drive to fill the vacancies.

 Countries including Australia and New Zealand will be the target, with schools there set to end their academic year in November or December and teachers able to change jobs sooner.

 The department admitted about 100 schools would be without native English-speaking teachers for several months.

 Lee Hing-fai, Assistant Director of Education, said: 'These schools will have to wait as our recruitment will take some time to complete.

 'We will try to seek more qualified teachers and build up a list so that in the future even if a teacher changes their mind and decides not to come to Hong Kong we can pick another from the list to replace them immediately.'  The scheme to hire about 700 teachers was announced by Tung Chee-hwa in his policy address last year.

 Each school was to have at least one such teacher, with schools able to hire their own or seek departmental help.

 Each teacher will be given a $13,000 monthly allowance for rent or other expenses in addition to a salary of between $20,000 and $30,000.

 Mr Lee said the department had failed to find teachers for 40 schools which had sought its help.

 Another 60 schools which planned to hire on their own failed to recruit teachers.

 'Some teachers rejected the offers as they secured another job in their countries, others did not want to leave their countries and their families. We appreciate their difficulties,' Mr Lee said.

 'We will continue our recruitment. But we will not lower our requirements or increase their allowance.'  Tam Man-kwan, principal of Yuen Long Pak Kau College, said his school had failed to employ a native English-speaking teacher. Other teachers had been asked to fill classes such as oral lessons originally assigned to the English teacher.

 About 300 teachers will arrive at the end of this month.

 They are from Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Korea.

 Director of Education Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping yesterday met representatives from consulates, chambers of commerce and schools to discuss the familiarisation programme for the teachers.



Shortage of expat English teachers