get their demands meet.
action.
c) The teachers had not known beforehand of the students
They were surprised when the students gathered at the
playground. However, as the students insisted on waiting for
an explanation from the school authority, they remained with the
students in the playground looking after them during the course
of action. At 4 p.m. most of the teachers, except one or two,
began to sit down in separate group in support of the students.
They did so because students expressed so much concern for them
and for the matters of the school; they could not just fold their
hands. Moreover, they considered the school authority very
unreasonable in refusing to contact the students.
At about 5 p.m.,
teachers sent a representative to tell the students that they
approved of their actions. As for the unreasonable clause in the
new contracts, the teachers themselves would deal with them.
Since it was getting late, the teachers advised the students to
go home first, and the first-day 'sit-in' finished.
F) Sit-in on June 10
The sit-in resumed the next day after the morning
assembly. The student representatives kept on asking for
explanation while the other students were waiting in the covered
playground. Since the school authority neglected the demand of
the students, the students turned to the teachers. The teachers
then had a short meeting and they finally agreed to send a teacher
representative, Mr. Chan Chung-ling, to clarify the financial
irregularities of the school on condition that the students
returned to classes after that. While Mr. Chan was explaining to
the students, an Assistant Director of Education and 2 Senior
Education Officers entered the school compound during the latter
part of the talk. The principal asked him to stop talking and
he did as he was told. But the students insisted on listening
While Mr. Chan was giving the latter part of the
explanation, the principal and the 3 government officials were
standing aside keeping silent. After listening to the whole story,
the students went back to their classrooms as they had promised,
and the 3 government officials left the playground to hold a press
to him.
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