At least five Hong Kong teachers accused of protest-related misconduct were not given a chance to defend themselves before Education Bureau, union says
- Union says teachers did not get a chance to respond before being notified by the Education Bureau that their cases have been substantiated
- But the bureau said the teachers got ‘abundant opportunities’ to respond to the allegations
At least five Hong Kong teachers accused of protest-related misconduct were not given a chance to defend themselves before the Education Bureau, according to a leading teachers’ union.
Latest figures from the bureau showed it received a total of 106 complaints of protest-related misconduct against teachers between June and November. Investigation was completed in about 60 cases and wrongdoings confirmed in 30.
The pro-democracy Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (PTU) said on Thursday about 20 teachers against whom such complaints were filed had sought its help over the past four months. About 17 of the cases were related to comments the teachers had made on social media, and nine have been found to be initially substantiated.
The union said in five of the cases, the teachers did not get a chance to respond before being notified by the bureau that their cases had been substantiated, mostly on the basis of information provided by their respective schools.
“The EDB has not been able to give fair treatment to people, allow them to understand the whole procedure and to make their statement before making its judgment,” education sector lawmaker and vice-president of the union Ip Kin-yuen said.
The union said most of the 17 cases only involved the teachers’ personal comments, such as expressing their views on “police violence”, while in some cases there were “mild criticism”. Many of the comments were shared only with their social media friends, which were later used by the bureau as evidence.
