Kevin Yeung

Kevin Yeung Yun-hung (Chinese: 楊潤雄; born 26 January 1963) is a Hong Kong government official. He is the current Secretary for Education, serving since 2017.

Kevin Yeung Yun-hung JP
楊潤雄
Secretary for Education
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2017
Chief Executive	Carrie Lam
Preceded by	Eddie Ng
Under Secretary for Education
In office 1 July 2012 – 30 June 2017
Chief Executive	Leung Chun-ying
Preceded by	Kenneth Chan
Succeeded by	Christine Choi Yuk-lin
Personal details
Born	(1963-01-26) January 26, 1963 Hong Kong
Alma mater	Wah Yan College, Kowloon University of Hong Kong RMIT University

He graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Social Sciences and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia. He worked as an accountant in the private sector for seven years before joining the Hong Kong government in 1992 as an administrative officer.[1]

He served in various bureaux and departments, including more than four years as assistant to Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing. In 2010 he transferred to the Food and Health Bureau, and later served in the Home Affairs Bureau, the Kowloon City District Office, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Sydney. He was promoted to Administrative Officer Staff Grade C in 2004. In November 2012, he was appointed Under Secretary for Education.[1]

In July 2017, he became the Secretary for Education in Chief Executive Carrie Lam's administration.

In his two senior Education Bureau roles, Yeung has frequently been criticised for his positions on contentious education matters, including: his support for Mandarin language teaching over Cantonese, his mother tongue;[2] calling for teachers to dissuade students from voicing support for the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests and that any school principal who supports a teacher under investigation may be disqualified;[3] and speedy criticism of a question in the 2020 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination that asked if Japan 'did more good than harm to China' between 1900 and 1945, calling it "problematic" and "biased".[4]

In June 2020, he wrote to school principals urging them to discipline students who took part in a union-organised referendum on whether to boycott classes as a protest against China's imposition of national security legislation through amending an annex to the Basic Law, calling it a 'meaningless ballot'. His letter also told principals to ensure that students did not shout slogans, form human chains, put up posters or even sing songs containing political messages.[5]

In July 2020, he wrote "No one, including students, should play, sing and broadcast songs which contain political messages or hold any activities to express their political stance"[6][7] despite the fact that he sent his own son and daughter to attend university in Australia,[8] where freedom of political communication is an implied right in the constitution.

In late August 2020, Kevin Yeung said that "separation of powers" should be removed from Liberal Studies textbooks.[9] This statement had a snowball effect, as a day later, Carrie Lam expressed "full support" for that opinion.[9] A week later, both the Liaison Office and Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office released statements, saying that separation of powers does not exist in Hong Kong.[10] In addition, Teresa Cheng reiterated the position and said that separation of powers "has no place" in Hong Kong.[11]

In October 2020, Yeung announced that details of certain investigations into teachers would be published online to inform the public and educators of what the government deems unacceptable.[12] Additionally, Yeung said that if Hong Kong independence is discussed in schools, then teachers must make the students conclude that the idea is not feasible.[13]

In November 2020, Yeung said that his department would seek legal authority for more extensive punishments against teachers, including the suspension of their teaching licenses, the withholding or deduction of their salaries, and other penalties.[14] In regards to classroom material that may be "problematic," such as discussions on Hong Kong independence, Yeung said that teachers "should report the matter to their supervisors so amendments could be made," and that if the teachers "stay silent, they should be held responsible."[15]

Also in November 2020, Yeung announced changes to the liberal studies curriculum in Hong Kong, including the vetting of all textbooks to remove material which pro-Beijing figures have said were biased against the government.[16] Some educators noted that some of Yeung's changes, such as moving the grading system to pass/fail, ran contrary to recommendations made by a task force that had reviewed the subject for three years.[16]