[Archive] Figures on teachers declared bankrupt

Date of sitting: 10 July 2002

Asked by: Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung

Replied by: SCS

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the number of teachers who are declared bankrupt by the Court, and its percentage in the total number of bankruptcy cases, in each of the past five years;
   
   
2. the follow-up actions taken by the schools concerned and the Education Department on those teachers who have been declared bankrupt; and
   
   
3. the measures it will adopt to enhance financial prudence among teachers and to help them grasp financial management knowledge?
   
   

Reply:

Madam President:

1. Except for the case of civil servants, the Official Receiver's Office (ORO) will not inform employers of the bankruptcy of their employees. Besides, the ORO does not have any statistics of the bankruptcy cases with breakdown by occupation. As teachers are not required to report such cases to their schools, the Government is unable to provide information on the number of teachers who are declared bankrupt by the Court every year and its percentage in the total number of bankruptcy cases.
   
   
2. No specific provision has been drawn up by the Government in handling bankruptcy of teachers. In the event of Government school teachers being declared bankrupt by the Court, the Education Department (ED) will deal with their cases as that of a civil servant in accordance with the Civil Service Regulations. The ED will examine the duties of the teacher concerned to ensure that they do not involve the handling of public money or sensitive information, or are not corruption prone. If it is confirmed that such financial problems have led to undesirable performance, impairment in efficiency or misconduct, the ED may take administrative action or disciplinary proceedings where appropriate.
   
   
3. Since financial prudence and knowledge of financial management are purely personal matters that bear no direct relation to competency in teaching, the Government will not adopt particular measures in this respect.
   
   For Government schools, circulars and government regulations concerning management of personal finance will be circulated to teachers by the ED on a regular basis with a view to reminding them about the importance of financial prudence.