12
mismanagement. As of June 1977 there were one senior
education officer, six education officers and three assistant
education officers in the establishment of the Department's
Schools and Servicing Branch overseeing 114 aided secondary
schools in the whole of Hong Kong.
26.
The Education Department began to be directly involved in the School when it was approached by the
Management Committee, on the 12th April 1977, to investigate
financial irregularities and was informed of the intention
of the Precious Blood Congregation to withdraw from the
sponsorship of the School. At this point, the Department
immediately took two courses of action. One was to send an
audit team to the School on the 19th April 1977, as well as
appointing Mr. P.C. Fung, the Area Education Officer, whose
schedule of duty included the School, to be an additional
member of the Management Committee. The other action was
to persuade, apparently with the assistance of the Roman
Catholic Bishop, the Precious Blood Congregation to continue
with its sponsorship for the time being, as it would not
be in the interest of the students and the teaching staff
if a change of sponsorship was to occur in the middle of an academic year.
27.
With the benefit of hindsight, we feel that the
weeks immediately following the disclosure of financial
mismanagement in the School, i.e., the period between mid- April and June 1977, was a critical period in the entire
affair. Whilst polarisation had followed as a direct and
immediate result of financial mismanagement, feelings and
attitudes on both sides had not yet hardened at this stage.
/28.
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