Court reserves judgment on Church´s education-policy appeal

Published Date: November 20, 2009

Hong Kong Catholic diocese has made a second attempt at obtaining a judicial review of the government´s school-management policy, which it says compromises the independence of Church institutions.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun

The Court of Appeal judges, however, reserved their judgment after the Nov. 17-18 hearing, which means it could take as long as several months before the verdict is known.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who led the group that handled the court case for the diocese, told UCA News he believes the chances of winning are “50-50.” But the cardinal, who retired earlier this year as bishop of Hong Kong, said the local Church “would definitely go to the Court of Final Appeal” if it loses again.

The diocese is seeking exemption from school management reforms introduced into the Education Ordinance in 2004. These require all government-aided schools to set up management committees to replace existing boards of directors, which have been appointed entirely by school-sponsoring bodies.

Representatives from teachers, parents and alumni must form 40 percent of management committee members.

During the hearing, Martin Lee Chu-ming, representing the diocese, said the amendment would destroy the management culture of Church-run schools. He argued the amendment goes against the assurance in the Basic Law, Hong Kong´s “mini-constitution” after its return to Chinese sovereignty, that religious groups could run schools independently.

A Catholic school in Hong Kong

Joseph Fok, representing the government, said the government provides much funding to government-aided schools and thus has the right to regulate school management for the purpose of transparency and accountability.

He argued there is no conflict between religious freedom and the government´s right to develop its educational policy.

The Court of First Instance dismissed the diocese´s first request for judicial review in 2007. The diocese, which runs about 200 government-aided primary and secondary schools as the largest school-sponsoring body in Hong Kong, decided to appeal early this year.

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