Hong Kong’s education authorities have called on a local secondary school to reassess its event arrangements after a post alleging that the school prohibited Cantonese from being used in graduation videos sparked an online outcry.
In a response to the South China Morning Post on Sunday, the government said the school had activated its crisis management team to follow up on the issue and sent an email to all teachers and students to clarify the matter.
“The Education Bureau has urged the school to review the relevant event arrangements and maintain effective communication with stakeholders,” a government spokeswoman said.
“The bureau will remain in contact with the school to provide appropriate guidance and support.”
The issue came under scrutiny after a recent viral post on social media platform Threads that shared internal presentation records from Good Hope School, a semi-private girls’ school in Ngau Chi Wan.
Referring to “a Band 1A girls school on Clear Water Bay Road”, the user posted images resembling presentation slides titled “Language Standards”, which stated that classes would have to mute the audio and redo sound effects if Cantonese was detected in the voice tracks, with only English and Mandarin permitted.
Amid the escalating controversy, Good Hope School principal Gary Harfitt clarified that Cantonese was not forbidden at the institution.
In an internal email to students and parents that circulated online on Saturday, Harfitt addressed the social media posts and comments on guidelines given to Form Six students regarding their graduation ceremony next year.
“Today a PowerPoint slide that had not been revised was regrettably issued to Secondary Six students. It contained inappropriate language and I deeply regret this,” Harfitt wrote, referring to the incident on Friday.
He said the institution recognised the importance of Cantonese and Mandarin alongside English.
He added that he took full responsibility for the oversight and stressed that the slide’s message did not reflect school policy.
“A high school farewell ceremony only happens once in a lifetime, and we do not want it to end with regrets,” the Threads user wrote, adding that the city had no future if its students lacked the freedom to speak Cantonese.
