Education Bureau should review complaints made by teachers and give school managers more training, according to government panel

The Education Bureau should review complaints from teachers as well as those made by parents, students or the public, a government task force has said.

Among 27 recommendations aiming to improve school governance following several high profile cases of mismanagement in recent years, the task force on Monday also called for managers to get at least three hours of training.

But critics questioned the suggestions’ effectiveness saying the target was too short and not mandatory. The bureau’s panel which reviewed complaints was accused of a lack of transparency.

The task force on school-based management policy was set up in November 2017 as part of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s pledge to review and improve education.

“Teachers say their complaints are commonly met with obstacles. We hope this recommendation can allow the process to be more open and fair,” Tim Lui, the task force chairman, said.

“Its effectiveness can only be evaluated after this new arrangement has run for a while.”

Hong Kong public schools run by operators other than the government have, since 2005, used a management framework that allows greater autonomy and flexibility.

Eduction sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen noted that under this system, teachers’ complaints went back to schools to handle, resulting in problems not being resolved.

Ip, who is also vice-president of the Professional Teachers’ Union, welcomed the task force’s recommendations but questioned its effectiveness.

“During the press conference, the government was not able to name the panel chairman … or provide the number of cases handled in the past few years,” he said.

The complaints’ review panel was made up of independents from various sectors, appointed by the permanent secretary for education.

In a later reply to reporters, the bureau said there were currently 21 members on the panel and the chairman was Dr Benjamin Wong Chun-yu.

It added the panel had not received any cases to review since the programme was improved in September 2017.

Stephen Lui Ki-cheung, a retired principal who previously worked as an inspector in the bureau, agreed the panel needed to be more open about its operations and composition. He suggested including lawyers.

Concerns were raised about the complaints process after the death of Lam Lai-tong, a Chinese and library studies teacher at TWGHs Leo Tung-hai Lee Primary School in Tin Shui Wai.

The 48-year-old was said to be under extreme stress and made to work while she was ill just before she died after falling from a six-storey campus building.

While the bureau received a complaint against the school months before Lam’s death, it referred the case to the school’s board instead of launching an investigation.

Another recommendation was setting soft training targets for school managers for four years starting with the academic year beginning in September.

It was proposed newly registered school supervisors would receive at least six hours training in their first year, while managers would get at least three.

Tim Lui said they decided against mandatory targets because school managers are working on a voluntary basis.

“Many schools and operators have told us hard targets will result in difficulties getting managers,” he said.

Ip did not think three or six hours would be sufficient for training school managers or supervisors who needed to know the education system plus that specific to their school, including operations, finances and human resources.

The bureau said it would study the report in further detail.