By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-20 06:31:43 | Updated at 2024-12-20 12:05:23
5 hours ago
The founding supervisor of a heavily indebted independent school in Hong Kong has made an open appeal for urgent financial support, saying the academy is failing to pay teacher salaries on time as cash flow has run out.
Han Academy in Wong Chuk Hang has been embroiled in controversy after police received reports from at least 14 parents accusing the private school of failing to refund debentures, with the unsettled amount totalling HK$8.6 million (US$1.1 million).
“As a result of the successive disasters, Han Academy team has now run out of money and is struggling to pay teacher salaries on time, making it difficult for the team to maintain operations,” supervisor Xu Li said on Friday.
Xu’s appeal was made via a letter titled “A letter seeking help from Han Academy” that was published on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
Xu told the Post that the school had delayed paying salaries amounting to HK$2.5 million owed to 49 staff members since November, but would target to send the pay cheques by Friday.
She also revealed that the school had made progress with one potential investor and had submitted supporting documents last week, with results coming in within two or three weeks.
“After the money comes through, it should be able to help us settle parents’ bonds,” she said.
