Hong Kong protests: Education Bureau, ex-city leader CY Leung publicly trade shots over handling of teacher misconduct cases

Flurry of Facebook posts from former chief executive attacking decision to not reveal names of convicted teachers prompts rare rebuttals from bureau

‘It is a shame for an official to avoid responsibilities,’ Leung says in response to education secretary’s remarks in online interview

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Former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying has gone after the Education Bureau and its leadership on Facebook. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 11:39pm, 17 Sep 2020Updated: 1:08am, 18 Sep 2020

A war of words has erupted between an ex-city leader and Hong Kong’s Education Bureau over the handling of teachers convicted of misconduct during last year’s anti-government protests, with the former chief executive accusing its top official of evading his responsibilities.

Leung Chun-ying, who is also vice-chairman of China’s top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, slammed Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung for refusing to publicise the names of convicted teachers and their schools in a series of at least six Facebook messages posted over the past three days.

Making two rare rebuttals, the bureau denied it had avoided the problem, saying it had “seriously followed up” each of the misconduct complaints against teachers “even in the face of challenges”.

But Leung suggested the bureau had failed to take a sufficiently hard line.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung was directly targeted in the ex-city leader’s Facebook posts, which accused him of ‘avoiding responsibilities’. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“On such a major issue of right and wrong, is this a responsible response? It is a shame for an official to avoid responsibilities,” Leung wrote in one of the posts targeting Yeung, who served as his undersecretary for education between 2012 and 2017.