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by the Education Department. Mr. Haye had explained at the press briefing that closure of the school was necessary because the school management had found it impossible to run the school in a confrontation situation and the loyal teachers, who had been under severe mental strain, were
This message, approaching racking point. unfortunately, did not come through. The psychological impact of the school closure on neutral public opinion was therefore unfortunate and unhelpful to the Education Department.
Mr. T.L. Lam's explanation of the facts at the CTV discussion on the evening of 15.5.78 helped
to clarify some basic points. He defended the Government case quite ably, although Mr. Ho of the CTV news section who chaired the forum was openly biased and tried his worst to discredit the Government and make things difficult for Lir. Lam. Some members of the panel also displayed strong prejudice and were inclined to take an emotional and unbalanced view of the affair, but the others spoke fairly and convincingly. On the whole, the discussion helped to dispel some important misconceptions and the closure of the school appeared in a more reasonable light to neutral public opinion. Overall public reaction was still very mixed, different people taking different sides according to their own education background, convictions and basic attitudes.
(8) The Government's publicity efforts to redress
the balance during the next few days were successful to some extent in enabling the public to see the situation in better perspective. For example, the stories and detailed accounts given by Principal Kwan and her loyal teachers, published in full by the Ming Pao, won back for them a fair amount of public sympathy.
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