Government announces investigation results of SMS incident of Primary One Central Allocation
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The Education Bureau (EDB) is highly concerned about the incident. Immediately after the incident, an investigation team was set up to conduct a thorough investigation with a view to clarifying the details of the incident, including whether negligence was involved. The investigation team also comprehensively reviewed the system operation, procedural arrangements and manpower deployment of the related work, so as to further enhance the information dissemination mechanism and supervision processes, to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
The investigation revealed that the incident primarily involved an EDB officer, who on the morning of June 2 made an operational error while setting up the SMS sending procedure in the relevant system. This resulted in SMS messages containing incorrect year and registration date, which were sent to parents one day earlier than the official announcement date originally scheduled. The SMS incident did not affect the CA results, which were announced on June 3. Having regard to the nature of the incident, the negligence of the staff member concerned, the inconvenience caused to parents, the public attention and the impact on the Government's reputation, the EDB has decided to take disciplinary follow-up action against the staff member concerned. Deficiencies in the performance of the relevant duties will be reflected in the staff member's appraisal, and an increment will not be granted. The staff member will also be transferred to perform other duties.
The investigation also found that another EDB staff member had not established sufficient review and approval measures in the workflow, and the staff member's supervisory and management performance was not satisfactory. Advice has been given to the staff member concerned. The EDB will also reflect the relevant inadequacies in the staff member's appraisal report.
The investigation task force concluded that in addition to negligence, the incident also showed areas for improvement in the current workflow and internal supervision mechanisms. After a comprehensive review of related workflows, system design and staff arrangements, the task force recommended a series of enhancement measures:
(1) Compiling internal working guidelines, clearly outlining the workflow, division of duties and responsibilities and approval arrangements for disseminating messages with regular reviews and updates;
(2) Establishing a multi-tier review and approval procedure in the message dissemination mechanism. The delivery task can only be activated after confirmation by staff from multiple tiers, and changes after task confirmation will be restricted; and
(3) Conducting practical drills before large-scale SMS dissemination, and holding briefings and training sessions on system operation continuously on a regular basis with a view to enhancing staff members' understanding of the workflow and dissemination system, as well as improving their responsiveness and risk awareness.
The School Places Allocation Section of the EDB has immediately implemented the above enhancement measures. Other sections will also enhance processes involving dissemination of information to the public according to the above principles to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the relevant information.
Ends/Friday, June 26, 2026
Issued at HKT 20:00
Issued at HKT 20:00
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