Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung promises stern punishment for teachers who encourage bullying of Hong Kong police officers’ children
- Warning comes as police association appeals for more support for children of local officers as the new school year begins
- ‘Spreading hatred should not be allowed,’ education chief says
Hong Kong’s education chief has warned of serious punishment for teachers who encourage school bullying after a police association asked for more support for the vulnerable children of local officers.
“Children from as little as kindergarten age to as big as middle school students – our police families have experienced many cases of teacher-encouraged bullying,” Lam said after the meeting on Thursday.
“I do not think this should exist in such a mature and advanced society such as Hong Kong.”
Lam described a case in which the younger brother of an officer was exposed by classmates in a school WhatsApp group that also included a teacher. A barrage of abusive messages from classmates forced the officer’s brother to leave the group. Lam said the teacher had implicitly encouraged the bullying by not shutting down the anti-police messages.
“I think this is tragic,” Lam said.
He went on to compare teachers’ presence at schools to “gods” – meaning powerful figures who should be protecting students rather than looking the other way.
“We are really concerned about this. Spreading hatred should not be allowed,” he said. “About school bullying, the Education Bureau and all schools stick to a very clear ‘zero-tolerance’ position. If we discover any bullying incidents, the schools must stop the activities to protect the bullied students.”
He called on schools to report any bullying incidents to his bureau. Yeung said if the instigators were students, the school should patiently help them understand the importance of mutual respect and the mistake of using violence.
Yeung said: “If teachers are involved in school bullying, this is unacceptable. The school must take disciplinary action and the Education Bureau will also follow it up seriously and impose punishment accordingly, including considering whether they are still qualified to be an educator.”
Yet Yeung assured the government and schools that there would be no punishment for students who expressed their political views on campus in a peaceful and rational manner.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said his bureau had boosted its counselling services for anyone with emotional or mental problems exacerbated by the protest crisis.
