TAI HAY-LAP is probably Hong Kong's most high-profile principal. He is the man to be found alongside prominent officials from Hong Kong or the mainland, or facing the media and public on behalf of the Education Commission.
But when not on public duty, his days are spent in what appears to be an otherwise ordinary Chinese-medium secondary school, in Tuen Mun, where he works from a humble little office.
No principal's involvement in policymaking matches that of Tai, who has been a member of both the Education Commission and the former Board of Education since 1995. He also holds posts in dozens of other education groups, and is a member of the ICAC Community Relations Committee, and Culture and Heritage Commission, among other bodies. Most recently, he has become a delegate to Beijing's Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Council for Sustainable Development and chairs the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee.
Tai says that he is only an 'ordinary person' who has been lucky enough to be given many opportunities to play a wider role. His rise from chemistry teacher to principal and policy maker was paved by the experience he built in his first decade as a teacher, when he was earmarked for almost every post available - including panel chair, extra-curricular activities adviser, counsellor and discipline master.
When he was first invited to sit on the Board of Education, he was given valuable guidance from Li Yuet-ting, the then Director of Education, on how to interpret official documents and advance his views in advisory groups. 'With the support given to me by many educators and officials, I learnt that an educator can make his voice heard in policymaking,' Tai says.
His determination to lead policy-making is rooted in his deeper concerns for the education and cultural development of both Hong Kong and the mainland. Rural education and the search for a new cultural identity for the Chinese are two issues that particularly interest him.