PTU Submits Appeal Over Teacher's De-registration

The Professional Teachers’ Union said on Monday it still has faith in an appeal process as they submitted appeal papers to the Education Bureau regarding a de-registered primary school teacher.

The government struck off the teacher, who taught at a school in Kowloon Tong, because it said he promoted independence through designing a teaching plan.

Submitting papers for an on behalf of the teacher, the union expressed the hope the Appeal Board – whose members are appointed by the Chief Executive – can handle the matter in a professional manner.

"We want them to make their judgement not according to political intention -- [although] we're also aware that...many of these decisions are actually made according to political motives behind," union president Fung Wai-wah said.

"We still hope – through this system to appeal – we can still have some room to fight for justice."

Over the past five years, the Appeal Board has upheld Education Bureau’s decisions in all six cases. The PTU, however, said this case is different compared with those cases, which it said were relatively minor.

The union said because of the high level of public concern in this case, it is not comparable to recent board rulings.

It also said the board has hearings like a court setting, during which both sides can hire legal representatives, submit evidence and call witnesses.

That, the union said, should make the process fairer, compared with how the bureau had handled the case so far. It alleged the bureau to have been operating in a black box and giving misleading public information to smear the teacher.

Over the weekend, the officials had hit back at the union, saying it shouldn't give the impression it's seeking to harbour teachers who commit misconduct.