Investigations into complaints against teachers are 'unsatisfactory'
The education chief gave a damning appraisal of the council that follows up complaints against teachers - criticism its chairman said was unfair because the government had failed to give the body teeth.
Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, the permanent secretary for education and manpower, yesterday called the two-year track record of the Council on Professional Conduct in Education 'unsatisfactory'.
The council is a non-statutory body that investigates complaints about the conduct of teachers and principals.
It said last week it had not upheld one of the 58 complaints received over its ruling committee's two-year term of office, which ended on April 30.
Twenty-seven cases are outstanding. None of the 29 complaints lodged with the council during the previous term of office, between 2002 and 2004, were upheld either.
'I don't think this is satisfactory at all,' Ms Law said. 'In fact I have recently met with the council and I said that they should really, really look at the professional ethics of our educators because it is critical.'