Teacher institute head sent on leave, denied professorship
The controversy over the Hong Kong Institute of Education has taken a fresh twist, with its ruling council ordering Paul Morris to go on immediate leave as its president, and deciding not to keep him on as a teacher when his term ends in September.
The council said yesterday's decision to send him on leave would enable the institute to 'turn a new leaf'.
Professor Morris condemned it as unnecessary. Lawmakers, staff and student representatives called it unreasonable and irrational.
Some lawmakers called it revenge for his part in the recent commission of inquiry into interference in the institute's autonomy, whose findings led former chief education civil servant Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun to quit as anti-graft chief.
Professor Morris said a council subcommittee had issued a directive saying: 'With the president becoming a central character in the committee of inquiry, the committee has requested that the president be directed to take leave immediately and that he be directed not to make any public statement in relation to the HKIEd while on leave.'