Complaint says King's College SMC head acted without consent

Alumni of King's College have lodged a complaint against the Education Bureau and the head of the school's management panel over the decision that the elite school will join the voluntary class reduction plan that the bureau initiated.

The policy that secondary schools cut one Form One class, commencing in September, is meant to cut costs in the face of declining school enrollment.

The bureau said earlier that King's College will join the program, although the only government boys' school in Central and Western District has not had any difficulty in filling the class that is to be cut.

Lam Chiu-ying, chairman of the King's College Old Boys Association and a former director of the Hong Kong Observatory, together with Cheng Man-yung, a member of the college's School Management Committee (SMC), filed a complaint to the ombudsman on Monday, charging that SMC Chairman Tam Koon-che, who is also the principal education officer of the Education Bureau, unilaterally decided to join the class reduction program at the end of February, despite strong opposition from parents and alumni.

The decision did not follow procedures since no votes were taken among committee members, Cheng added.

Cheng said that Tam's decision to join the plan in the name of the school's supervisor without SMC's authorization, which deprived members the right to vote on the matter, represented "serious maladministration".

He described the school's joining of the voluntary plan as "involuntarily".

Cheng also charged that by accepting Tam's application, the bureau acknowledged the school's improper procedure in the absence of voting, which also constituted "maladministration".

The Office of Ombudsman said it will take three to six weeks to investigate the complaint.

In case the complaint were not to return satisfactory result, the alumni might consider launching a request for a judicial review, Cheng said.

A spokesman for the bureau said on Monday that as an advocate for the plan and a school runner, the bureau has to set a good example and obligate all government schools to participate.

The spokesman said that before the bureau decided the school should take part in the plan, it had deliberated on "stakeholders' opinions" and "the specific situation of King's College".

The spokesman added that the decision to join the plan, as a move to "follow the Education Bureau's instruction", tallies with the SMC's procedures.

There had been fierce opposition from the school's alumni association to joining the reduction at the school, amid fears that doing so will reduce opportunities for students to obtain a top-level education.

The class-cutting program is part of the government's measures in response to declining birth rates.

More schools face closure as a result of failure to meet admission quotas.

When the program was launched early in 2010, only 23 schools signed up.

The bureau later promised an extra annual subsidy of HK$250,000 for five years to participating schools.

A total of 202 secondary schools out of the 230 in the city that have at least five Form One classes have agreed to operate four Form One classes starting from September.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/10/2011 page1)