SCHOOLS have been urged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption to improve the way they monitor their accounts.
The move follows fears that the Government's public sector reform proposals may make it easier for headmasters to accept bribes.
The ICAC is worried that as schools become more responsible for their own administration, the opportunities for corruption may increase. And with the millions of dollars at stake in education, so may the temptation.
Thomas Chan Chi-Sum, an assistant director at the ICAC, said aided schools were most likely to be victims of corruption because they received donations from many sources and would buy more services from the private sector.
Typically, a headmaster would be approached by a text book supplier, school uniform manufacturer or caterer and offered a bribe to take that company's services. Sometimes triad gangs might be hired to threaten the headmaster.
During a court case last November, at the end of which a headmaster was jailed for taking backhanders to buy books, it was claimed that bribery was accepted as a traditional incentive in Chinese business deals.
On the advice of the ICAC, the Department of Education has circulated guidelines on accounting practices within schools which spell out the purchasing procedures that headmasters should follow.