Hong Kong teacher delisted over lesson plan covering independence to file appeal on Monday

Formal review against Education Bureau’s decision will involve five-member panel that includes three teachers

Union confident of arguments, but education chief warns teachers must take responsibility for content of lesson plans

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The teacher worked at the private Alliance Primary School in Kowloon Tong. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 8:35pm, 11 Oct 2020Updated: 11:27pm, 11 Oct 2020

A Hong Kong teacher deregistered over lesson materials that touched on local independence and freedom of speech will lodge an appeal against the decision on Monday, according to a union.

The case is being closely watched by educators and some parents alike as an indication of political influence in the classroom. The city’s No 2 official warned on Sunday that school campuses should not “become hotbeds for spreading pro-independence notions”, while the education minister said the administration was looking into handling complaints against teachers with greater transparency.

According to education authorities, the teacher from the private Alliance Primary School in Kowloon Tong created a lesson plan for Primary Five pupils that spread pro-independence ideas through “biased and twisted” materials.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung called the lesson plan drafted by the teacher ‘very problematic’. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

One worksheet asked “What is freedom of speech” and “Why is the notion of Hong Kong independence being raised”. The questions were tied to a TV documentary that touched on pro-independence activist Andy Chan Ho-tin, which was shown in class.

The teacher left his post last month and was stripped of his registration and banned from entering any school campuses in a first since anti-government protests erupted last year.