TNAG-0799-FCO40-1003-Dispute-over-closure-of-Precious-Blood-Golden-Jubilee-Second-1978 — Page 18

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28.

We understand that the appointment of an Education Department official on the Management Committee of the School, whilst not unprecedented, was nonetheless a rare step taken

In view of the disclosure only in exceptional circumstances. of financial mismanagement, it was not unreasonable for the Education Department, at that point in time, to concentrate

The its attention on financial matters in the School. Education Department official, Mr. P.C. Fung, appointed to the Management Committee, however, could well have acquainted himself with the background leading to the disclosure and the events which followed. It was unfortunate that he did not do this, or having done so failed to apprise his superiors in the Department. We were given to understand that he visited the school premises only once during the entire period when he was a member of the Management Committee and that was not until the 10th June 1977, the second day

of the students' sit-in at the School.

Thus, whatever

information and views concerning the situation the Department had were apparently obtained from only one source, i.e. the Precious Blood Congregation. As a result of this limited

in-put, the Education Department did not take sufficient cognizance of the following vital factors:

(a)

To the teachers and most of the students in

the School, financial mismanagement was not

only a legal issue, but far more important for them,

a moral one as well;

(b) Irrespective of motives, the act of exposing

financial irregularities, per se, cannot be

regarded as wrongful;

/(c)