Veteran staff appear first to volunteer as morale among survivors takes a nosedive
Voluntary retirement is taking a heavy toll on morale and veteran officers at the Education and Manpower Bureau where staff have demanded a policy overhaul.
The coming months will see the departure of 234 employees, whose applications for the second round of the scheme were approved in August. They include 113 of the 860 inspectors, and school support and special education officers, according to Godwin Lai Kam-tong, president of Government Educational Staff Union (Gesu).
This has prompted worries that the remaining staff will not be able to fill the gap.
Choi Sung-ki, vice-chairman of Federation of EMB Staff Associations, said: 'What will happen is that younger and less experienced staff will be sent to senior posts and those with an expertise in financial management will be told to lead reading projects.
'I do not doubt the abilities of my colleagues. But the change could put them under tremendous pressure and affect their performance.'
Plans are also underway for the 18 Regional Education Offices (REO) to be merged next year, which might imply that some REO staff will be in charge of 80 instead of 40 schools. This year the EMB announced it would cut staff numbers - currently about 7,000 - by 10 per cent through natural attrition and voluntary retirement.