The Education Secretary, Eddie Ng, says understanding overseas practices helps him formulate local education policies. File photo: RTHK
The Education Secretary, Eddie Ng, has dismissed suggestions that his frequent overseas visits aren’t necessary, saying the exposure to foreign practices helps him to form local education policies.
Pan-democratic lawmakers had urged Ng to disclose more details of the 13 duty visits he took last year, which cost taxpayers HK$483,000, so the public can decide whether they were necessary and effective. Nine of the trips were to the mainland.
But the education secretary stressed that such details have already been made public in previous press releases.
Since Ng took office in 2012, Ng has gone on 37 overseas trips, spending a total of almost HK$2.5 million.
During a special Legco Finance Committee meeting, pan-democratic lawmakers also accused Ng of not doing enough to address the recent spate of student suicides.
Councillors also criticised the government's decision to grant only HK$5,000 to every government-backed primary and secondary school to tackle the problem is too little, especially when compared to the administration’s HK$1 billion scholarship plan to attract students from China’s trading partners under Beijing’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1253235-20160408.htm
