11
as her personal and direct involvement in the financial
mismanagement, we were given to understand that she had
set herself a five-year period in which to try out her
educational ideas. If the experimentation did not succeed
or if the methods practised were found not acceptable to the
community or to the Roman Catholic Church, she would simply
withdraw herself from the School, disengaging herself from
the experiment she had initiated. We have reasons to believe
that indeed some time before the disclosure of financial
irregularities in April 1977, she had already contemplated
resigning. We feel obliged to point out the utter irrespon-
sibility of such an attitude. Sister Leung was well intentioned
in trying to put into practice a number of good ideas to improve secondary education in Hong Kong. However, we cannot
help getting the impression that while she was completely
confident in herself, she lacked the personal integrity, intellectual
ability and fortitude to lead properly the kind of school that
she wanted to create. As it transpired, financial irregularities of
the School and the events that followed turned the positive
beliefs in justice and spirit of inquiry instilled in the
students into negative attitudes of intolerance and excessive
emotional indignation.
IV.
Developments from Disclosure of Financial Mismanagement to Students' Sit-in in June 1977
25.
In the running of schools in the aided sector, the
line taken by the Education Department has always been to
place considerable trust in the sponsors. In the case of
the Precious Blood Golden Jubilee Secondary School there had
been, as far as we are aware, no regular visits to the School
conducted by supervisory staff of the Department. It is
understandable that the Department had not given the School
any special attention prior to the disclosure of financial
/mismanagement