****************************
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (May 12):
Reporter: Sir, what do you think about this case in which the students' clips are allegedly leaked and do you think it is serious and how will the Education Bureau intervene later? And also what do you think about, like what you said in the programme just now that you won't pressure the principals of the different universities to support the political reform package? Do you have anything to add?
Secretary for Education: First of all, the 2017 Chief Executive (CE) election has a proposal already in place for final consultation and the Hong Kong SAR Government is very clear on the subject. We are supportive of that, and no matter either you are in a different capacity, and I would support it to that extent. When having meetings with different stakeholders, different committees and groups, I always at the end of the session, if time allows, I would always consult those attending the meeting: Is it possible, is it OK for us to talk about the CE election subject? If they are supportive, with their consent, then I would raise the subject and then I would encourage them to spend time to understand more about the subject and hopefully they will be able to support it. That is all I have been doing. There is no such thing as pressuring people, and also, trust me, every individual, particularly principals, they are very knowledgeable, they are very mature, and they will be able to manage it very well.
As far as the subject of the students' case, I would like to repeat what I've said earlier. First, this is an individual group, individual activity. They were not part of the normal exchange programmes or the sister school programmes that we are supporting and we are operating together with the schools. For those activities, they are under a very professional management process, including the selection of the vendor in organising the tour, in terms of the insurance, the pre-trip consultation and engagement of the students, teachers and parents altogether. So I believe that process has been going on very well and we would like to keep it that way to be safe and professional. On this particular count, I understand all those clips had been deleted already, so to speak. And I encourage everyone else if you still have the clips, please delete them. This is the basic respect to the students, and the privacy right of the students is very important. For schools, I understand they've been trying to counsel and support those affected students. As far as I understand, there are still a lot of things going on and a lot of verification of facts and so on. I will not be able to comment at this stage. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:50
NNNN
