by James Wang

The diocese of Hong Kong expresses its “disappointment”. Methodists and Anglicans are ready to give up their schools. Christians fear government reform would eliminate their freedom and undermine the right of the Church to run its schools. On this issue, Benedict XVI had already indicated his closeness to the diocese.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – The Hong Kong Appeal Court yesterday upheld the constitutionality of the government's school management reform of 2004, which the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong said would remove its autonomy in running its schools. In a press release, the diocese expressed its disappointment over the ruling, and reasserted its commitment to running its schools based on the 1997 agreement.

The diocese of Hong Kong had appealed against the school reform, arguing that it violated the Basic law, which enshrined a basic policy of “50 years, no change” encapsulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration before the handover.

For many Catholic but also Anglican and Methodist leaders, the school reform would change the nature of their schools by reducing the power of sponsoring bodies to set educational policies.

In 2002, the Hong Kong government had introduced a reform plan that would require publicly funded school to set up an incorporated management committee with members elected by parents, teachers, alumni as well as independent managers. The rest (60 per cent) would be named by sponsoring bodies.

The various Churches said that they were afraid that such a body would politicise school management, and that the government would end up choosing educational content, thus marginalising sponsoring bodies.

So far, only half of publicly funded 850 schools have accepted the government plan.

The diocese announced that it would look at the ruling and decide what to do accordingly.

The Methodist Church stated that it would rather give up its operating rights than set up committees. The Anglican Church said it would do the same.

Cardinal Zen has expressed a similar opinion in the past (see “Bishop Zen warns: Without freedom we will close our schools,” in asianews.it, 9 December 2005).

In 2004, the government offered extra funds to the schools that implemented the reform, an offer that is still standing until next 1 July.

Benedict XVI addressed the issue in the past. During the ad limina visit by Hong Kong and Macau bishops in 2008, the Holy Father stressed the importance of  Hong Kong’s (300 or so) Catholic schools (see “Pope: I pray that the bishops of China may come to Rome,” in asianews.it, 27 June 2008). On that occasion, he said that they make an “important contribution to the intellectual, spiritual and moral formation of the new generations.” Consequently, he expressed his support to those involved because of the “new difficulties” they face.

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• anglican
• methodist
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• zen
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