Hong Kong: 80 teachers arrested for involvement in anti-govt protests

Nearly 80 teachers have been arrested by the Hong Kong police authorities over their involvement in anti-government demonstrations while at least four have either resigned or suspended. The Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung revealed on December 20 while urging the school administrations to suspend the teachers who are detained for serious offences.

Yeung claims that it is out of concern for the safety of students in the civil unrest. The students reportedly make up nearly 40% of the 6,000 people arrested during the months-long protests demanding democracy in the former British colony. 

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According to the Education Bureau, there have been nearly 123 complaints of misconduct against teachers between mid-June and late-November all of which were related to the demonstrations.

Even though Yeung mentioned that nearly 80 teachers and teaching assistants have been arrested, he reportedly did not mention how many of them had been the subject of the complaints.

A teacher was even charged with possessing a weapon, and another government-school teacher is accused of making bias teaching materials. Further details were not provided by the bureau on either of the cases. 

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74 investigations completed

Investigations have been completed in 74 complaints out of the total 123. Wrongdoing by the teachers has been confirmed in 13 complaints and 30 cases have been dismissed.

The remaining 31 complaints were initially substantiated, however, some of them are still being reviewed by the authorities or awaiting an explanation from the teachers involved. At least six teachers have also been subjected to warning or criticism and seven others have been issued with advisory letters. 

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Apart from the action taken by the bureau, Yeung reportedly said that some schools had also taken actions like a demotion, postponement of salary increase, or transfer of teachers on receiving the complaints.

Most of the complaints registered by the bureau involve usage of hate speech or provocative acts or inappropriate teaching materials and violation of the law. Yeung also clarified in the press conference that most teachers in the city are 'dedicated' to their job and have taught in an unbiased way over the past few months, however, there are still some 'black sheep' who caused doubts on teachers and left the educators in 'shame'. 

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(With agency inputs)