The Hong Kong Court of First Instance has recently given permission to a dismissed teacher, Toffee Tam Yuk-fun, to apply for a judicial review. Tam’s charges arise from her having made allegedly improper Facebook posts during the 2019 anti-government protests. She was dismissed by Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, back in July, following the claim that her posts brought disrepute to the Hong Kong government and breached the standard of behavior expected of a teacher.
The court allowed Tam to proceed with her application, finding her claims reasonably arguable based on the written submissions presented by her legal representation. Although the exact content of Tam’s Facebook comments, which led to her dismissal, has not been publicly revealed, she had been accused of inciting hatred towards police officers by posting malicious comments about them and their families.
Defense for Tam argued that her Facebook posts were intended to be private but were disclosed without her permission. Furthermore, they claimed that there was insufficient proof that Tam’s comments affected her professional abilities. They also asserted that her termination intruded upon her rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
Reports from Hong Kong’s Education Bureau reveal that over 77% of complaints regarding the professional misconduct of teachers were associated with the 2019 anti-government protests. Since 2019, three teachers were dismissed and served prison sentence because of their involvement in the protests. Another teacher was reported to be dismissed due to a use of biased teaching materials connected with the protests.
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