EDUCATION ACTION GROUP 教育行動 組
R 2
Secondly, the Education Department listed, among the "pretexts for anarchy" which the teachers had allegedly raised, the new teachers' contracts. (Document #5) The argument was that the teachers con trad -icted themselves in raising problems about a contract which they then -selves had already accepted. What the Education Department failed to tell the public was the fact that the Education Department had helped draft those new contracts contrary to its own code of aid, which requires, amonst other things, a minimum of two warnings before dismissal. (Docu -ment #5) (The code of aid is the code to be followed by all schools receiving aid from the Government.) It also failed to distinguish bet -ween "acceptance" and "signing in spite of oneself", the cost of not signing being that of having no job.
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Document 7
C
Thirdly, the Education Department leaked a story according to which the teachers had plotted to take over the school with one of tham becoming the principal. (Document # 6 & 7) No one can prove or disprove what is within the hearts of men/women. But the fact is that a story did leak out. (The headline on the front page of Ming Pao, a leading Chinese paper
reads: "Authorities Reveal the True Cause behing the Colden Jubilee Incident: Mr. Chan Chun Ling and Other Teachers Wish to Take Over School.") One would however question who would want to be a principal to the extent of staging a month-long sit-in & sleep-in outside the Catholic Bishop's House, facing possible arrest and de-regist -ration as a teacher. One would also question how can the teachers take over the school since it is run by the Catholic Church and thus the principal has to be appointed by its management committee and approved by the Education Department.
D
Besides the above mentioned points it has been repeatedly stressed that the teachers had not gone through the proper channels. However, the teachers wrote repeatedly to the management committee of the school, but never received any replies. The teachers also attempted to see Sr. Larr -aine Turcotte, the school supervisor, at St. Clare's school where she is principal. She declined to see them, even for five minutes. (Document #4) Further, in the week before the 2nd sit-in, the Chairman of the Professional Teachers' Union, Mr. Szeto Wah,, has approached the principal, the Education Department, the Office of the the Unofficial Members of the Legislative and Executive Councils, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and the Catholic Board of Education in a bid to "ease the tension", but without succes". (Document # 8) Instead, he got what he considers a written reprimand from the Education Department. (Document # 9) So it can be shown that the teachers were "pushed to the extreme of public demonstrations because people in a position to do so refused to deal with their grievances in an open, fair and understanding manner" as pointed out by the Hong Kong Christian Council, (Document # 6)
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Among the "pretexts for anarchy", the acting Director of Education, Mr. Colvyn Haye has named the mismanagement of school funds and the new contracts. Facts have shown that the grievances of the teachers and students were substantiated. For, many questions have remained although justios has been done to some extent regarding the financial mismanagement. The legality of the new contracts can also be questioned since firing with -out warning is against the code of aid. The more the cause of the teachers is justifiable, the more the Education Department seems to have recourse to other means which may bring about the discrediting of the teachers,
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