Education officials yesterday said they do not fear a possible lawsuit from school sponsoring bodies over the school management reform bill.

The comments came after the Catholic Church, the largest school sponsoring body in Hong Kong, threatened to sue the government should the Education (Amendment) Bill 2002 be passed.

The bill is scheduled to have a second reading in the Legislative Council (LegCo) today.

The bill will require schools receiving government funding to set up management committees, of which sponsoring bodies can appoint 60 per cent of the seats while the remainder would be taken up by elected teachers, parents and alumni.

Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower Fanny Law said: "I am confident that such a situation would not occur with more successful experience and achievement of participant schools in the setting up of management committees and proactive promotion by the government.

"I believe that some sponsoring bodies' worries over the bill would be dismissed when more schools proved the operation of their management boards."

Law called on society to judge the bill in a peaceful and rational manner, saying it aims to safeguard the interests of students.

Meanwhile, Gilbert Mo, the Justice Department's deputy law draftsman, said the government is confident of winning in court if some school sponsoring bodies filed a lawsuit against the government for breaching the Basic Law by passing the bill.

Earlier, Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen said the bill would violate article 141 of the Basic Law, which stipulates that "religious organizations may, according to their previous practice, continue to run seminaries and other schools, hospitals and welfare institutions and to provide other social services".

However, Mo said article 136 of the Basic Law also stipulated that the SAR government "shall, on its own, formulate policies on the development and improvement of education, including policies regarding the educational system and its administration, the language of instruction, the allocation of funds, the examination system, the system of academic awards and the recognition of educational qualifications".

Mo said the intention of the Basic Law's article 141 does not necessarily mean any change or reform in the education system must be prohibited.

Also, Law said she was confused by the move of the Democratic Party, which may vote down the bill if an amendment motion raised by party member and legislator, Cheung Man-kwong, was rejected.

In the amendment, Cheung calls for the compulsory setting up for the school management committee to be postponed indefinitely if voluntary reform proves unsuccessful in the 2008 review.

A few weeks ago, the Education and Manpower Bureau said it was willing to review the effectiveness of the bill in 2008. If the review showed the law had had a negative impact, the deadline for the setting up of management boards would be postphoned from 2010 to 2012.

Law stressed that the bill must have an exact deadline for effective implementation.

Last night, some school-sponsoring bodies staged a rally at Chater Garden in Central in protest against the legislation of the bill, saying they could lose control of their schools.

(HK Edition 07/07/2004 page2)