Wanted: Teachers, Students in Hong Kong

Over 4,000 teachers have left the school system this past year

The school year has just started in Hong Kong, but with a lot fewer teachers and students.

The latest government figures show more than 4,000 teachers left their jobs in the past school year, a five-year high and 70 percent spike from the year before. 

Apparently this past summer there have been hundreds of ads posted in newspapers of schools looking for teachers.

Teachers must instil patriotism in students now

In the meantime, some 30,000 fewer students attending primary and secondary school in September 2021 compared to the preceding October.

Not only do teachers have to instil patriotism in students through national education, but also study President Xi Jinping's speech in the case of secondary students, while newly-revised textbooks have hardly any reference to June 4 or the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong.

Teachers are walking a fine line made worse by the threat that students and teachers can report on teachers who may be violating the national security law.

Nevertheless, the authorities refuse to acknowledge the real reason why so many teachers and students have left the school system.

The government claims teachers left their posts for various reasons including retirement, further study or found a job in another sector.

Schools have advertised for teacher positions

Schools are so short of teachers that even fresh education graduates who don't yet have their teaching diploma have been hired. 

However they are gloomy about their own career prospects with all the political requirements placed on them.

"There's not much that can be changed," said a 23-year-old university graduate who has taught a year of English in a secondary school. "You either submit, or quit."