THE Government yesterday rejected criticism of the Education Commission by two former members, saying the panel was moving in the right direction with remarkable achievements.
But legislators interpreted the Government's comments as a refusal to make improvements and some members of Legco's education panel called for the commission to be more open.
Speaking at the panel meeting yesterday, Secretary for Education and Manpower Michael Leung Man-kin said: ''I'm sure that the direction the commission is taking is a correct one and its achievements are evident for everybody to see. What they are doing is definitely beneficial to Hong Kong.'' He said that for the past nine years the commission had achieved significant results, with the production of five reports and 330 recommendations. Many of those had been accepted.
Those were long-term policy issues set to improve the quality of education, he said.
But United Democrat Yeung Sum said he was worried the administration would not consider the points raised by the members who resigned.
Liberal Party legislator Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee, also a former commission member, said there might be some justification for the two members - Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and Dr David Morris - to have resigned, because even the commission chairman agreed with some of their arguments.