EDUCATION ACTION GROUP
教育行動 組
P 3.
To further illustrate the attitude of the Education Department in
its handling of educational affairs, I would like to bring ♦♦ your attent
-ion its lack of truthfulness which has since come to light.
Test
On June 14th, it was revealed that from June 1st, 1977 to May 31st, 1978, a total of 113 allegations of financial irregularities had been made against 101 schools and that, of these, 23 had "some substance" and 19 were being looked into. (Document # 10)
After the first Golden Jubilee incident in 1977, the Education Action Group wrote to the Education Department urging it to look into the alleged wide-spread financial mismanagement in schools. In reply, the Education Department asked us to produce evidence. (Document # 11) The statement quoted above (Document 8) seems to bear upon the fact that at the time when the Education Department asked us to produce evidence, the Education Department was already aware of the probability of such evidence if not in possession of it.
Moreover, while using 14.7% of the Covernment's total recurrent expenditure or $970 million on subsidising schools, the auditing of this vast sum is left in the hands of sixteen officials with no accountancy training. Mr. Wong, head of the accounts division for the past two years and more, has only undergone several one and two-week accounting courses given by the Government Training Division. (Document #12)
Instead of responding to public opinion by seeking to improve its staff, however, the Education Department took a defensive attitude and said that this was an idea put forward by some people interested in discrediting the way education is run. (Document #13)
The developments outlined above have thrown new light on the whole issue and helped some people here understand it better. I share these points with you hoping that, with your help, a fair solution can be reached soon.
Thanking you in anticipation,
UCA
EDUC
*
ON →
教育
行動期
GROUP
ACTIO
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Ha
Anthony Ha,
Chairman,
Education Action Group.