HKPTU: 40% of teachers in HK intend to leave the sector, key reason being political pressure
Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong June 3, 2021
Last week (May 2021) the Hong Kong SAR Education Bureau delisted 4 teachers from the professional register, white terror gripped the education sector. Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union (HKPTU) contacted nearly 1200 teachers and principals via online survey last week and found 40% of respondents intend to leave the HK education field. 133 of them will leave before or at the end of this school year. Among the 474 teachers who intend to leave, over 70% indicate that increasing political pressure is the main reason. HKPTU analyzes that among those planning to leave, the percentage of supervisory level teachers is higher than average. The Union is worried about manpower shortage in mid levels. FUNG Wai-wah, president of HKPTU, requests the government and specific pro-establishment members of the Legislative Council to stop political intervention, so that teachers can continue education professionally.
Between 29 Apr and 5 May, HKPTU conducted an online survey for 1,178 teachers and principals of primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and special schools. They found that 40% of respondents want to leave the sector, of which nearly 20% (226) plan to resign or retire early, while the other 20% (248) have no solid plan yet. For these teachers with plan to leave, 133 respondents will leave before or by the end of this school year. An annual average of 37 teachers will leave in the following 4 school years.
When asked about the main cause of leaving, 337 (71.1%) of the 474 respondents ticked “increasing political pressure”; 262 (55.3%) and 183 (38.6%) chose “dissatisfied with social situation in HK” and “dissatisfied with HK’s education policy” respectively. Some expressed in the responses that “the sector is full of red tapes”, some mentioned “do not want their children educated in a place with no moral standard and go bad”, “curriculum mandated by the Education Bureau is more and more biased, so do not want to assist the abuser” and “politics supersede education”, etc. Among the 704 who choose to stay, 30% quoted reasons like “stay in HK with family”, another 30% “unable to leave due to financial circumstance”. Some respondents proactively mention they “want to stay exactly because of worsening political situation” and “if teachers are gone, who will care for the students?”
Nearly half of teachers with over 20 years experience intend to leave
HKPTU finds that around 48% of teachers at supervisory levels in primary schools and around 51% in secondary school expressed their tendency to leave, both figures are higher than overall average. When analyzed by years of service, nearly 48% respondents with experience between 21-30 years plan to leave the sector. HKPTU is worried about a shortage in the mid levels in future, which will affect quality of education.
The survey also reveals that nearly 84% of the respondents are dissatisfied with the society and politics, while over 78% are dissatisfied with education system and policies. HKPTU president FUNG interprets the results as: regardless of their decision to leave or stay, the teachers are dissatisfied with the social environment and education policies.
FUNG thinks that Education Bureau adopts unfair approaches when handling complaints, accepts anonymous complaints, ignores opinions from the sector and pushes hard to reform the curriculums. In addition the pro-establishment attacks Liberal Studies subject and requests to install CCTVs in classrooms. All these increase political pressure in the education field. FUNG urges the government and pro-establishment to stop related behaviours, so as to allow educators provide students with the most appropriate education, under an environment free of political influence.
Source: Stand News #May09
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