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7.
The announcement of the closure led to further demonstrations, including a public meeting on 28 May attended by a crowd variously estimated at between 4,000 and 10,000 people. On 16 May the closure was endorsed by the Executive Council who
decided that a Committee of Inquiry should be set up with the following terms of reference:
"Having regard to the closure of the Precious Blood
Golden Jubilee Secondary School, to make recommendations
to the Governor on what measures should be taken to avoid
a recurrence of a similar state of affairs in secondary
schools in the public sector".
The Governor appointed Dr Rayson Huang, Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Hong Kong, to be Chairman of the Committee. At the Governor's request Dr Huang made it clear publicly that
he interprets his terms of reference as requiring him to conduct
a through examination of past events at the school.
8. In the meantime, it was announced that a new school, to be
known as St Theresa's Secondary School, would open in the
premises of the former Golden Jubilee School at the beginning of
the next school year, with Miss Kwan as Principal. The 16 dissident teachers would not be offered employment there, but the other staff and pupils of the old school would be offered places in the new school. In the meantime, for the remainder
of the old school year, places were offered to the pupils of
the former school in other schools under Government auspices,
though a number of the pupils did not take up this offer. The dissident teachers made it plain that these proposals were not acceptable to them and, with considerable public support, they
continued to agitate for the dismissal of Miss Kwan and the reopening of the Golden Jubilee School in its original form.
9. The Committee of Inquiry presented an interim report to the Governor on 3 July, and this was published on 14 July. It did not seek to apportion blame for the dispute, but concentrated instead on recommending a way out of the impasse
/that
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