Hong Kong diocese fails again in school court challenge

Published Date: February 4, 2010

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The Court of Appeal has thrown out Hong Kong diocese’s second challenge to the government’s school-management policy that it fears will hinder their ability to govern Church schools.

The ordinance requires all government-aided schools to set up incorporated management committees with representatives drawn from teachers, parents and alumni who must form 40 percent of the membership, UCA News reports.

The diocese says the ordinance could prevent the Church from realizing its vision for education and lead to wholesale replacement of existing boards that have been appointed entirely by school-sponsoring bodies.

The court ruled that that the Education (Amendment) Ordinance passed in 2004 does not violate the assurance in the Basic Law that religious groups could run schools independently.

The ruling was made two and a half months after the three judges heard the case on Nov. 17-18, 2009.

The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s “mini-constitution” after its return from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Vicar general Father Michael Yeung Ming-cheung told reporters that the diocese regrets the ruling and would study the court judgment before deciding the next step.

The Catholic diocese is the largest school-sponsoring body in Hong Kong which runs about 200 government-aided primary and secondary schools.

If it does not go to the Court of Final Appeal all its schools will have to set up an incorporated management committee by July next year.

As of the end of January 2010, 445 primary and secondary schools have set up the committee while about 400 did not.

Most of the latter, which oppose the school-management policy, are run by Protestant and Catholic organizations.

The long-lasting battle against the Education Bureau began in 2005 when the diocese filed a petition to seek exemption of Catholic schools from the ordinance.

The diocese lost the first judicial review in 2006. It revived its appeal in early 2009.

SOURCE

Diocese loses school policy challenge (UCA News)

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