Under Increasing Political Pressure, 40 Percent of Hong Kong’s Teachers Intend to Leave Education Sector

Epoch Times ^ | 05/18/2021 | Emma Yu

[SeekAndFind]

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forcibly implemented the Hong Kong National Security Law, the education sector in the financial hub has also become a target of “rectification.”

Fung Wai-wah, president of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union, said on his website that the push by the city’s education bureau for curriculum reform according to Beijing’s requirements, the unfair handling of complaints, and even requiring CCTV in classrooms, have increased political pressure in the education sector.

On May 5, the union conducted an online survey of 1,178 secondary, primary, kindergarten, and special school teachers and principals in Hong Kong. The results showed that 19.2 percent of the respondents had plans to resign or retire early, and 21.1 percent had no specific plans but were inclined to leave. That’s about 40 percent of surveyed teachers that said they intend to leave the education sector.

Of the 474 respondents who said they were intending to leave, 71.1 percent cited “increased political pressure” as the main reason for leaving. More than half of these teachers, 55.3 percent, also said they were dissatisfied with Hong Kong society, and 38.6 percent said they were dissatisfied with local government’s education policies.

Most of the respondents who said they would stay in Hong Kong’s education sector were affected by practical life considerations such as staying with their family in Hong Kong (58 percent), not being able to afford to leave (53.3 percent), and being “used to life in Hong Kong” (43.9 percent).

Some interviewees reported among their reasons for leaving having their words and actions are restricted both inside and outside the classroom, with politics overtaking the profession in the current political environment, with some groups or individuals making political criticisms against the education sector.

[SeekAndFind]

There were also teachers who said they believe the quality of education in Hong Kong is in a downward spiral, with non-education professionals in charge who are ignorant of the industry, a chaotic administration, and no respect for frontline teachers such as those who are involved in the arts and liberal studies.

[PGalt]

King Kong

[BobL]

Very sad. Unlike the United States, the public schools in Asia actually DO teach kids useful skills.

[aynrandfreak]

That could work out with maybe 40% of the population leaving.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Unlike the United States, the public schools in Asia actually DO teach kids useful skills.

In the worldwide Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) assessments, an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’ reading, mathematics, and science literacy every three years, Hong Kong students always land in the top 5 among over 125 countries measured.

[BobL]

Yep, I knew they were rated very high. But they can’t hold a candle to use in ‘self-esteem’. We may suck academically, but at least we ‘think’ we’re smart!!!!

(and idiot conservative parents think their kids are being taught in public schools...or, more likely, don’t care)

[teacherwoes]

Not only teachers are thinking about leaving the profession but many parents are pulling their kids out of school and moving to another place (the UK mostly).

The HK Education Bureau is putting the education system under the microscope and is slowly changing the system from “think for yourself”to “think as the state allows”.

Some textbooks for next school year state that the UK occupied Hong Kong and uses Chinaspeak to describe the UK “occupation,” There is no mention of how the UK turned HK from a sleepy fishing village to a modern city and how HK missed China’s great events such as the Civil War, Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.

[Starcitizen]

There were also teachers who said they believe the quality of education in Hong Kong is in a downward spiral, with non-education professionals in charge who are ignorant of the industry, a chaotic administration, and no respect for frontline teachers such as those who are involved in the arts and liberal studies.
——————
That’s what happens when Communist China takes over. I’m increasingly seeing Mandarin (instead of Cantonese or English) as a speaking requirement for almost any college level or lower position. This requirement didn’t exist even a few years ago.

[momincombatboots]

Last year teachers were complaining that parents here thought they knew better than teachers about kids needing continual classes on 2 mommies and why they should be ashamed to be white. It was a wake up call for a handful of friends.

[sphinx]

There is no mention of how the UK turned HK from a sleepy fishing village to a modern city

I was last in Hong Kong eight or ten years ago, before things got really skunky in China. The old Victoria Barracks area is now redeveloped, with much of it turned into a park. When last I was there, I was surprised to find along one of the walking paths a statue of a British soldier, with a plaque acknowledging and commemorating the fact that Hong Kong was once a British city. I wonder if that statue still stands.