Thread by @XinqiSu

#NOW HK education secretary Kevin Yeung said to weed out black sheep in education sector is for the purpose of "defending dignity of educators and public trust in them".

Since protests broke out last June, the Education Bureau received 247 complaints against teachers, among which 73 were found invalid.

Among the rest, 1 teacher has been deregistered (on 22 Sep), 21 were condemned, 12 got warning letter, 19 written advice, 18 got verbal reminder

Michelle Li, permanent secretary for education, said the punishment was "reasonable" and "proportionate" as the case is deemed "very serious".

Li said the teacher "placed emphasis on HK independence" and "induce students to discuss whether they agree with HK independence".

Chan Siu Suk-fan, deputy secretary for education, said the worksheet was not a careless mistake but a premeditated plan to disseminate HK independence in classes.

Chan said the teacher "spent lots of time (50mins) to introduce an illegal party (HK National Party)" ...

Chan said the teacher "required students to show their political stance" because students were told they could raise hand if they agreed with HK National Party's programme.

Chan said students had no room to express their own views because they had to memorise HKNP's information

...in order to answer questions like "why would some people advocate for HK independence" and "when did such thought emerge in HK".

"Topics like HK independence, Tibet independence and Xinjiang independence are absolutely not suitable for primary pupils", Chan said.

Chan said the teacher introduced "false concepts" to students such as "the Hong Kong government imposed ban on political parties with the Societies Ordinance".

Education Secretary Kevin Yeung said the bureau "currently has no plan to report the case to the National Security Office" as the case took place before #NationalSecurityLaw came in force but it will communicate with Security Bureau on handling of future cases.

Deputy Secretary Chan Siu Suk-fan said the teacher argued that the theme of class was freedom of speech but Chan said freedom of speech was only the intro part of the class and the actual emphasis of the class was HK independence.

Permanent Secretary Michelle Li said the case was probed and studied by a panel formed with officials at the Education Bureau's directorate level.

Here is the senior directorate of the bureau:

Education Secretary Kevin Yeung said the public "should not think this is just a minor issue because it's just a work sheet", "what we looked at is the overall class design, how much time was spent on what issue, what discussion was carried out in class".

Permanent Secretary Michelle Li said deregistration does not have expiry date in laws so "it's a lifelong arrangement", and "we will not allow this teacher to enter our education system again".

“There is no need to discuss Hong Kong independence in schools at all levels," said HK's education secretary Kevin Yeung.

”Frankly speaking, discussion of Hong Kong independence should not be open-ended discussion. Even when students have questions about this issue, teachers should provide guidance under the framework of the Basic Law," said HK's education secretary Kevin Yeung.

6 teachers and management members of the Alliance Primary School Kowloon Tong were punished for this case, deputy secretary Chan Siu Suk-fan said.

“We did not intend to terrify anyone with this case," (我地嘅出發點唔係為咗嚇人) said HK education secretary Kevin Yeung.

Permanent secretary Michelle Li said, from May, the Education Bureau has advised schools to check up prospective teachers in a Bureau system with registration and warning records.

1,900 queries have been sent by end of July (annual average was 130 in previous years).

Education Bureau presser has ended.

If discussing HK independence is deemed "too deep" for students in primary grade 5, how are teachers supposed to "explain HK's constitutional order according to the Basic Law" to them?