The Death of Public Education in Macau

September 10 is Teachers' Day in China. It was officially created in 1985 to improve teachers' social status and call on the entire nation to respect teachers and to seek knowledge. Students from around the country greeted their current and former teachers with flowers, SMS and e-cards on this day as a sign of respect. However, September 10 of 2008 will forever be remembered as a tragic day for all teachers in Macau, as two well-experienced and qualified teachers were told by educational officials to leave the profession simply because they exercised their constitutional rights to express their views on how their schools should be run.

It all began in the January of 2008, when Sou Chio Fai, the director of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, led a group of education officials to have a candid "open dialogue" with teachers of Escola Luso-Chinese Tecnico-Profissional. Although there are only two public secondary schools in Macau, this meeting would mark the first ever visit by educational officials to the school in over eight years. At the beginning of the meeting, the teachers were told by the director that purpose of the gathering was to improve communication between teachers, school administrators and officials at the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, therefore opinions and comments on any matters related to the school was encouraged. A mathematics teacher took and microphone and expressed his disapproval of the quality of leadership by the school principal, the low standard of teaching and learning demanded by the school administration, and the absence of a support system for students with special needs. Most teachers at scene thought it was a good opportunity for an afternoon of candid dialogue and the aim of the meeting was successfully accomplished.

A month later, a disciplinary letter was issued to this particular teacher citing "impolite behavior" towards the management within the work environment as the reason for punishment. The public school teachers' union boss, who was a colleague of this mathematics teacher at Escola Luso-Chinese Tecnico-Profissional, issued a public letter demanded the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and school principal to reconsider the decision. There had been no official response from the school or the government officials. And the disciplinary letter was subsequently overturned during the appeal process.

Right before the beginning of the 2008/2009 school year, the mathematics teacher who spoke his mind at the meeting and the union boss who petitioned for his cause were both told that their contracts would not be renewed. And the irony is that the news was announced to the public on Teachers’ Day, the day when everyone is supposed to show their respects towards teachers.

Wherever I go, whoever I speak to, people told me that they were totally shocked by the fact that these two teachers were not sacked because of poor teaching performance. The only sin they had committed was that there were brave enough their views on how the school should be reformed while others were used to sit in the role of the silent majority. The decision to dismiss these two teachers from the public school system without proper and just cause went totally against the universally believed system of values, essentially, democratic values which favor freedom of thought and expression and liberty of the person and the rule of law in a civil society. In Article 27 of Chapter 3 Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Residents of the Basic Law, it clearly stipulated that "Macau residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike." It is also true that the very own Educational Law drafted by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau required "the teaching staff and other professionals of education exercise an activity considered as of public interest and have the right to a statute compatible with their professional qualifications and social responsibilities." Just by reading these legal documents in black and white, it clearly guaranteed teachers in Macau the right of free expression and encouraged actions and comments that are in the best interest of the public.

No matter how I look at this incident, I can't find any excuse for the unjust dismissal of the two teachers whose only wrongdoing was to express their views in a professional meeting that was meant to encourage opinions and dialogues. If the principal of Escola Luso-Chinese Tecnico-Profissional and the officials at the Educational and Youth Affairs Bureau weren't willing to accept constructive criticism of any kind, and all they wanted to do at these meetings were to put on a show, I can't see any light in the future of this particular school, the way public education was being ran, and the professionalism of teachers in the public school system in Macau.

Now with public school teachers totally focused on fighting the unjust treatment of their fallen comrades and struggling against the principal and officials, the students will definitely suffer as a result. Who would want to teach in public schools in the future? And who would want to send their children to public schools in Macau? There will be very few, if any.

This probably signals the beginning of the gradual but inevitable death of public school in Macau.