Banning EdU students from taking up jobs would potentially be "not fair"

Timeline of Education University's democracy wall saga

Banning The Education University of Hong Kong's (EdU) students from taking up jobs would potentially be unfair, said a spokesperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), referring to the university's recent democracy wall saga.

Employers should avoid applying non-essential requirements, conditions or making groundless assumptions, EOC said.

Some school principals sent emails to EdU saying they would never hire the university's  graduates, said the university's student union.

"If these claims happened to be true, it would be unfair", said EOC.

However, EOC also pointed out that due to the lack of details, there was no evidence to show that these possible actions would be against the Discrimination Ordinance.

"To prevent discrimination in the workplace, the EOC encourages employers to make all employment decisions based on merit, job experiences and education qualifications regardless of a person's gender, marital status or other irrelevant criteria."  

Student unions of some other universities have been criticized for not openly denouncing the incident.

However, some students also studying education did not approve of what was posted on the university's democracy wall.

"I feel a bit ashamed actually. Cursing and mocking the deceased son of a person is never appropriate" said Joanna Wong, a student of English Language Education in a local university.

Nevertheless, she does not think that the claims of internship cancellation will be true.

" I don't think the principals who joined the petition really meant that they are not hiring those from EdU"

About 10 internships at the university have been cancelled, said Lala Lai Hiu-ching, the president of the university's student union.

"Some institutions claimed that they were "cancelling" internships and would "never" hire EdU students," Lai said.

If these claims are true, this would affect all students in this university.

"This is from a recent internal meeting," Lai said.

Without completing a school-assigned internship, students might not be able to graduate.

Banners taunting the death of the city's vice education minister's son on EdU's democracy wall was publicly condemned by schools and government officials including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

More than 17,000 signatures, including school principals', have been collected from educational workers expressing their criticism on the banners congratulating the suicide of the city's education official's son.

The campaign voiced popular discontent over the banner and asked relevant organisations to take action.

Specific details on the issue remain unclear.

"I know nothing about this," said Cheng Sung-hei, the external vice president of EdU's student union.

All the related information is only available to the student union's president and the university's administrators, said Cheng.

The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union refused to comment on the issue.