Advertisement
Advertisement

Here, there and everywhere

Polly Hui

The 53rd floor of the Hopewell Centre in Wan Chai was illuminated only by the light from a small room marked 'Islands' above the door. There, late at night, Tony Hui Tat-keung was buried in piles of documents clipped with red 'urgent' labels.

The Education Department's chief school development officer for the island district spends much of his time outside his office and now it was time for paperwork.

Mr Hui does not fit the commonly held image of an Education Department official. Despite the lofty location of his office, he is not a man too elevated or far away from frontline educators, nor does he look to find fault with teachers during his school visits.

On the contrary, his down-to-earth nature and helpfulness has enabled him to make friends with many of the school heads and villagers on the outlying islands since he took the post last July.

Mr Hui is an illustration of the Education Department's efforts to build closer links with schools. He is a frontline officer in one of four Regional Education Offices set up last year to support schools and oversee education reforms at local level.

Five district offices on Hong Kong Island merged and moved to a more spacious site in the Hopewell Centre, where parents and teachers can communicate more easily with officers.

The restructuring has also facilitated communication between the five districts. Similar regional offices have been opened, for Kowloon, New Territories East and New Territories West.

Principal of Peng Chau Chi Yan Public School, Lam Kam-yung, said the merger had resulted in more co-operation between island schools and education officials.

'Schools and teachers are making more effort to improve now that we can see the Education Department is also trying to improve,' she said.

The past few months have seen a rise in the number of seminars and workshops organised to familiarise teachers and parents with the reforms.

Traditional school visits, considered by teachers as opportunities for the Education Department to scrutinise them, have been replaced by the less bureaucratic 'school development visits', aimed at assisting schools to create their own school-based management plan.

Within two months of joining the Hong Kong Regional Education Office, Mr Hui visited almost all the schools in his district and listened to their problems.

When 90 stilt houses were destroyed by a fire in Tai O last July, he dashed to the scene to see how the students in the village were coping.

Mr Hui took an additional role as full-time participant of a three-day leadership training camp this month. In T-shirt and jeans, he gave himself a nickname and threw himself into the programme on Cheung Chau.

'Before I go out to encourage teachers to take part in the leadership programme, I have to know whether it is worth joining by doing it myself. In the same way, I have to know the real-life situations of the outlying island schools rather than impose any changes on them,' he said.

His unconventional style is appreciated by teachers.

In the last session of the camp, Ho Nga-tsz, a teacher at CCC Tai O School, said: 'I used to hate the Education Department because I believed it was always asking teachers to do more, without considering the pressure we were under.

'But this time, a bureaucrat was actually sitting with us in the training camp. It made me realise that he was also one of us.'

Mr Hui also organises educational activities for children on the islands. His six years' experience as a teacher in Yuen Long has helped him to recognise the important role schools play in developing the potential of village children.

'Many of the parents in Yuen Long were farmers who could do little to educate their children. My students thought that if they were no good at school, the only path they could pursue was to follow their family business.

'So I took them to education exhibitions and university open days to let them know there were lots more opportunities out there open to them,' he said.

Mr Hui believes face-to-face interaction is a must to ensure that the community fully understands the reforms.

'I want teachers and parents to learn about any changes of education policy directly from myself, not from people outside the Education Department because there are invariably misinterpretations,' he said.

Although it is only eight months since he left the Education Department's Advisory Inspectorate Division to join the Regional Education Office, Mr Hui has already played a significant role in solving some of the large-scale problems faced by schools on the outlying islands.

For eight years, a number of students at the Kwok Man Primary School in Cheung Chau were taught in temporary rooms after construction work for new classrooms was brought to a halt for fear of ruining old building structures nearby.

Mr Hui found a solution for the school late last year in the rarely used rooms on the other side of the campus. Renovation and extension work on the rooms is about to begin.

Last month, four schools in Tung Chung could not be opened in a new housing estate, due to construction work delays. Mr Hui saw that it would be difficult for the schools to attract any students if they opened in the middle of a school term.

He settled the problem quickly by using an old building adjacent to the housing estate as a temporary campus for the four schools.

Through his often time-consuming trips to the outlying islands, Mr Hui soon came to appreciate the mindset of village people.

During the blaze in Tai O last July, he was moved when he witnessed teenagers rescuing old villagers from their homes.

'Many of the teenagers involved do not do well at school. But in terms of conduct, I can say they are much better than many students in the town,' he said.

'I do not know if it is characteristic of village people, but the parents always come asking for my advice, and are full of enthusiasm and hospitality,' he said.

Mr Hui's positive approach may not be echoed by others in the Education Department. A chief school development officer faces more criticism than praise in meetings with other parties.

In Mr Hui's case, his job involves not only communicating with schools but with village heads who often sit on school management bodies.

But he believes many of the 'headaches' can ultimately be solved by communication and mutual trust.

'A win-win solution can only be brought about by letting different parties have a fair say,' he said.

'Lots of complaints from schools stem from poor interpersonal relationships. Once they are sorted out, the problems can be solved.'

Now he also has to deal with the public's resistance and uncertainties about the education reforms. Mr Hui believes the Regional Education Office can play a key role in building parents and teachers' confidence.

'A transition period is always required for any changes made to a system. If you have faith in the reform, you won't mind waiting for a while before seeing the fruit,' he said.

More than anything, Mr Hui believes chief school development officers should have the heart to help others.

'I have learnt much more from working for six months as a chief school development officer than working for six years as a school inspector,' he said.

Post