Hong Kong primary school principal, operator of tutoring centre arrested on suspicion of corruption over exam paper leak
- The Independent Commission Against Corruption says examination papers from the school were seized at the tutoring centre
- The agency has not identified the suspects, but a source says the principal is the head of the well-known Tak Sun School in Jordan
The principal of a government-subsidised Hong Kong primary school has been arrested on suspicion of corruption after several internal exam papers were believed to have been leaked to a local tutoring centre.
In a statement on Friday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said the school head was arrested last Saturday. Though the statement did not name the suspect, a source told the Post that the principal in question was Kwok Chiu-kwan, of the well-known Tak Sun School in Jordan.
The agency said in its statement that the operator of the tutoring centre was also arrested in connection with the investigation, adding that inquiries were continuing and that authorities would be liaising with the Education Bureau and the school.
“During the ICAC operation, examination papers belonging to the primary school were seized at the tutorial centre. The examination papers included those involving different classes of the third school term and covering various subjects,” the statement said.
“Initial inspections revealed that the contents of the worksheets of the tutorial centre were largely the same or similar to the school examination papers seized.”
An Education Bureau spokeswoman on Friday urged the public to refrain from conjecture about the case to avoid negatively affecting teachers and pupils at the school. She added the bureau would provide “all necessary assistance” to the ICAC, but declined to comment further.
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The school’s management team and sponsoring body, the East Asian Education Association, has kept mum about the reasons behind the suspension, saying in a notice to parents on Monday only that Kwok was “unable to perform his duties and would be taking leave”.
In two separate replies to the Post this week, the association said it would be providing further information to stakeholders soon, adding that it had so far received “positive appreciation of the performance of the principal in the past years”.
Some parents said Kwok, who had been principal for about eight years, was good at communicating with them, and cared about the school’s 800 students.
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“I think he really did an excellent job. He cares a lot about the students and the school. He’s very hard-working,” said the mother of a Primary Five pupil, who asked to remain anonymous.
Kwok was also the recipient of a Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence Certificate of Merit for moral and civic education in the 2010-11 academic year.
Vice-principal Lee Mei Ang has been appointed to take over Kwok’s duties in an acting capacity, according to the school, which added that “teachers and staff are working to ensure that the school continues to run in a normal fashion and the pupils are not in any way affected”.
Additional reporting by Christy Leung and Sammy Heung
