The Education Bureau today announced that it will cease all working relations with the Professional Teachers’ Union, saying the union's remarks and deeds in recent years has rendered it no different from a political body in essence.

The bureau pointed out that the union has claimed itself as a professional education organisation and in the past decades, the bureau has allowed it to participate in the discussion, co-ordination and conduct of education-related activities.

However, the union’s remarks and deeds in recent years are invariably inconsistent with what is expected of the education profession, rendering it no different from a political body in essence.

Over the past years, it has been actively and closely participating in the Civil Human Rights Front and Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. It has also urged teachers to launch class boycotts, triggering the infiltration of politics into schools, the bureau explained.

In the social turmoil, some students or even teachers were swayed to take part in violence and unlawful activities. Instead of shouldering the responsibility of the education profession by guiding or dissuading them, the union added fuel to fire, contrary to the fundamental principles of education and at the expense of students’ well-being.

As a result, the bureau could no longer regard the union as a professional education body and announced that it will no longer have any formal or informal meetings with the union or its representatives, nor consult it on education-related issues.

In the meantime, the bureau will suspend the handling of cases referred or concerns raised by the union. People concerned may directly contact the bureau, relevant schools or organisations.

The bureau indicated that it will holistically review the advisory committees and related educational bodies under its purview. If any members are holding posts in these committees and bodies as representatives of the union, the bureau will consider terminating the appointment.

The bureau may also consider not recognising their membership, refusing their participation in the meetings or denying their access to the bureau office area for meetings.

In principle, teacher training courses organised by the union will no longer be recognised. Hence, with effect from today, schools should not count teachers’ participation in the union’s training courses as part of the 150 hours of continuing professional development activities in the three-year cycles, the bureau stressed.

However, in case schools find that certain training courses could be recognised given their special circumstances, they may consult the bureau’s relevant Senior School Development Officer.

The bureau stated that the education sector was hard hit by the political and social turmoil in recent years. Some teachers or students had gone astray, while some were even arrested.

A professional education organisation should uphold professionalism, help teachers demonstrate their professionalism in guiding students to discern right from wrong, teach students the importance of law-abidingness and steer them to grow on the right track. 

However, not only does the union fail to live up to this expectation, it has also been engaging in political propaganda under the guise of being a professional education organisation. 

For instance, in the Occupy Central movement, the union published teaching resources with contents on civil disobedience for all teachers to teach their students, launched territory-wide class and teaching boycott by teachers, dragging schools into politics. Recently the union even openly promoted books that glorify violence.

While the union claimed itself as a teachers’ union, teachers should, taking due account of its words and deeds, prudently consider if it could genuinely represent them.

The bureau emphasised that it expects all professional education organisations to responsibly fulfil their mission in education and it will continue to join hands with genuine education professional organisations in reaffirming its focus on education principles and nurturing Hong Kong’s younger generation.