Education | Non-teaching civil servants may be allowed to work as temporary teachers

The Macau SAR government has proposed allowing civil servants who are not teachers to work in public schools as lecturers, according to the Third Standing Committee of Legislative Assembly (AL).
Yesterday, a group of high-ranking government officials from the cultural affairs and education sector informed the AL committee of the aforementioned proposal.
The proposal is a new prescription added to the recently-passed amendment of law No.67/99/M, which concerns teaching professionals in public schools under the administration of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ).
The new article proposes that non-teaching-related civil servants could be hired as part-time teachers or could be hired to teach in public schools for a fixed time. However, the unique employment arrangement may only occur under one condition – when teachers’ resources do not meet the demands of the education institution.
“For instance, when human resources show an exceptional shortage in public schools at the secondary education level, or there are other situations which suddenly lead to a shortage of teachers, these are the exceptions,” Vong Hin Fai said, citing the government’s explanation.
“However, what is the recruitment procedure? Who chooses the teachers? How to choose the teachers? Who makes the call to judge when there is such necessity [for exceptional hiring]?” Vong asked, citing the opinions voiced by other lawmakers of the Third Standing Committee of the AL.
According to Vong, the judgement call will be made by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, with the DSEJ director having to first make a proposal.
“The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture said that she has not heard about giving any approval during her one-year tenure as the Secretary,” said Vong.
The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U, and the Director of DSEJ, Lou Pak Sang, were present at the meeting yesterday.
During the meeting, the officials revealed that this law is also applicable to teachers serving the Correctional Services Bureau, the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the Social Affairs Bureau.
Teachers of the Labour Affairs Bureau are not regulated by this law, it was explained. “The government uses other methods of employment, such as ‘purchase of labour’ or ‘purchase of service’ to hire teachers for the Labour Affairs Bureau,” Vong explained.
In addition to the aforementioned topics, members of the Third Standing Committee of the AL also raised questions regarding teachers’ evaluation committee, and teachers’ continuing training. According to the government, these matters will be regulated by other administrative regulations, which are currently still unavailable and being worked upon by the government.
“The committee was concerned about the evaluation body. Is it going to be a committee or is it going to be formed by one person only?” asked Vong.
Vong quoted the government and said that the authority would listen to the relevant stakeholders’ opinions on these topics.