Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has confirmed that teachers coming into the profession, or who changed jobs, would have to take an examination on the city’s Basic Law.
This is to be a requirement before they are allowed to teach at Hong Kong’s hundreds of Government-subsidised schools in the next academic year.
The examination will be similar to one Public Servants are now expected to take.
The requirement for new hires is seen as part of education authorities’ efforts to enforce stricter professional conduct for teachers.
It comes after complaints were submitted against hundreds of teachers during and since the 2019 anti-Government protests, including over their comments on social media.
According to figures released in September, the Education Bureau has investigated 269 complaints of professional misconduct by teachers received between June 2019 and December last year.
As a result of the complaints, it disciplined 178 teachers.
At least three educators were stripped of their registration for life; one was accused by the Bureau of promoting Hong Kong’s independence in class; and another was accused of giving students inaccurate information on the First Opium War between Britain and China from 1839 to 1842.
Hong Kong’s native-speaking English teachers are to be among the very small number of new faculty hires not required to pass the test.
Hong Kong, 23 November 2021
