HONG KONG, Dec. 18, 00 (CWNews.com/Fides) - A Catholic bishop in Hong Kong has said that the recent government education reform appears to put pressure on the Church, bypassing it as a school-sponsoring body.
Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Zen was interviewed about the situation of the local Catholic Church by the Hong Kong-based international newsweekly Yazhou Zhoukan in its current issue. Referring to education, a field of major importance for the Church the world over, Bishop Zen said that the new School-Based Management program, introduced last April, seems to "bypass the authority of sponsoring bodies to let the government manage the schools directly;" the Catholic Church here has expressed doubts regarding the policy.
As Bishop Zen pointed out, the Catholic Church operates more than 300 schools in Hong Kong, a force that can influence government education policy. "The government fears that sponsoring bodies control schools," the bishop said, adding that the government may not be taking aim specifically at the Catholic Church, as there are other sponsoring bodies in Hong Kong. While the Chinese Communist government claims that under the new School-Based Management program schools have a higher degree of autonomy and transparency and parents have more participation in school management, sponsoring bodies fear that the program will reduce their roles. In Hong Kong most schools are run by sponsoring bodies and about half are operated by Catholic and Protestant churches.
Sister Leung Kit-Fun, a university teacher, fears that the education reform will turn into a source of conflict between the Church and the government; as the personnel composition of the board of directors, financial affairs, and student enrollment of the schools are being increasingly influenced by the government, schools find it difficult to maintain their educational objectives.
Sister Leung fears a clamp-down on education as in mainland China. Recalling that in 1949 the Communists seized the Church's education institutions, Sister Leung says the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region appears also to want to play down the influence of the Church and favor pro-Beijing sponsoring bodies.
Meanwhile, a Hong Kong official in charge of education affairs has emphasized that the policy is not aimed at the Catholic Church, "it is a complete misunderstanding," the education official said.
CWN - Catholic World News
18. desember 2000