Government tries to push Church out of schools
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) There is new education legislation that the Hong Kong government would like to pass at all costs. The new laws, however, risk making the Church a minority influence in the territory's educational system while stepping up state power over schools.
In reaction to this, Hong Kong Bishop Joseph Zen has written an official letter to Legco (Hong Kong's House of Parliament), stating that it would be "irresponsible" to approve any such laws without first clarifying all the "ambiguities" found in the text of the amended legislation.
For quite sometime now, the Hong Kong government has been debating the so-called "Education Bill 2002" which obliges all schools to form a "incorporated management committee" made of students, parents, teachers, and representatives from Hong Kong society together with the School Sponsoring Body (SSB). The committee is responsible for evaluating teachers and didactic methods as well as the overall quality and structure of schools themselves.
According to Bishop. Zen and various other education leaders in Hong Kong, the government measure aims to remove SSB authority and strike down its educational proposals and programs. At the same time, they say, the new legislation strengthens government control over schools.
In Zen's letter to Legco, the bishop states that government authority will be increased "through decentralizing the School Sponsoring Bodies and radically altering an effective educational system that has gained international admiration"
The legal amendments are so "revolutionary" that the bishop accuses the new legislation of going against the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution which had been ratified by Beijing. According to the agreements concerning the Basic Law, Hong Kong's basic societal structures cannot be changed for 50 years.
The Hong Kong diocese runs about 300 elementary schools, high schools and colleges throughout the territory. Diocesan schools are considered to be the top-rated on the island. Hong Kong's most well know cultural, political and financial leaders have all been educated at these Catholic schools. Hence some experts have said the government move is aimed at halting the Catholic Church's influence over Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's Secretary of Education, Arthur Li, said Bishop Zen's concerns are based on "irrational anxiety" and called them "completely unfounded".
In his letter, Zen asked that there be a 5 year trial period at schools under new management before passing the law. In the opposite scenario, the Zen says the Church will subject itself to the new reforms only "passively".
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