Hong Kong’s leader has rolled out plans in his annual policy speech to step up governance of private schools by establishing a code of conduct and compiling a list of institutions, after some were alleged to have run unauthorised courses.
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Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also vowed on Wednesday to crack down on the unauthorised provision of courses for the Diploma for Secondary Education (DSE), the city’s university entrance exams, with authorities setting up a reporting mechanism, conducting unannounced school inspections and clarifying the registration arrangements for private candidates seeking to sign up for the test.
“We will formulate the Code of Practice for Private Schools and publish the Private School List within this year, with a view to improving the standards of school operations,” he said.
A government source confirmed that the strengthened regulations were announced after some private schools were found to have operated inappropriately recently.
The Education Bureau revoked the licence of the privately run Tsung Tsin Middle School this month for poor management. The school had also been accused of collaborating with a mainland Chinese tutorial centre to provide unauthorised DSE courses.
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Authorities also suspended another private institution, Inno Secondary School, for poor management after it allegedly collaborated with a third party to enable students outside Hong Kong to qualify for subsidised university programmes.