(To watch the video with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Society holds the teaching profession to a higher moral standard and a breach of professional conduct by any teacher is taken very seriously, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said today.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Yeung said the Education Bureau received 123 complaints about teachers’ professional conduct between mid-June and November and that investigations into 13 of them had been completed.

He noted that most of the complaints concerned the dissemination of hate messages, including those posted online.

Mr Yeung stressed that the Government had no intention of depriving Hong Kong people of their freedom of speech in the course of dealing with teachers’ professional misconduct.

“Let me be very clear: we are not taking away any freedom of speech. Teachers, as well as other residents in Hong Kong, can criticise the Government for our policies or for our administrative actions.

“But we do have a higher standard for teachers as they are actually teaching our younger generation, who are not adults yet and who are still forming their own values at this stage.

“We are expecting a higher moral standard from our teachers. So, when we notice that teachers have breached the code, we take it very seriously.”

Mr Yeung added that the issue was not simply the expression of political opinions.

“When we talk about the messages or remarks they make, we are not talking about just their political opinions, we are talking about their hate messages.

 “Some of them are very improper, I think, if judged by the standards of society. These are areas that we take issue with.”