Ex-education chief said registration not needed for interest classes, independent bookstore owner testifies in court

2026-03-13 - 12:15

A Hong Kong independent bookstore owner has cited a former education minister in court to defend charges linked to a Spanish course held last year. Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming appears in the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on January 8, 2026, to plead not guilty to charges alleging that he ran an “unregistered school” at his Book Punch bookstore in Sham Shui Po. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP. Pong Yat-ming appeared at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday to stand trial for allegedly managing an unregistered school after he held a Spanish course at his bookstore, Book Punch, in April last year. He faces three charges related to the alleged offence, while Active Experiential Learning Company – the bookstore’s parent company – was charged with permitting an unregistered teacher to teach and owning an unregistered school. Both Pong and the company pleaded not guilty in January. The bookstore owner testified on Thursday that before running the Spanish course, he had researched online and come across then-education secretary Kevin Yeung’s comments in 2017 that interest classes, such as those teaching dance and acting, would not require school registration “because they are interests.” Pong said he believed Yeung’s words – a response to a lawmaker’s question in the Legislative Council – were authoritative, according to The Witness. Ex-education secretary Kevin Yeung. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. When asked by Kwan Kai-yu, a barrister hired by the government representing the prosecution, if he had sought legal advice before beginning the language classes, Pong said he did not, as Yeung’s words were “very clear.” But Kwan said the nature of Spanish classes was different from the examples of dance and acting classes that Yeung had cited. During the trial, Pong confirmed that he had written a Facebook post advertising the Spanish class. He said that the course did not administer homework or tests. Those who complete the 14-lesson course would not be given any certificates, and there were no consequences for anybody who dropped out of the course, he said. Defining ‘educational course’ Under the Education Ordinance, it is an offence to manage a school that is unregistered or not provisionally registered. During the trial, Kwan cited a previous court case that defined a school as offering “educational courses by any means.” Kowloon City Law Courts Building. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. Barrister Lawrence Lau, representing Pong and Active Experiential Learning Company, raised doubts over whether the Spanish lessons were considered an “educational course.” He referred to the Oxford English Dictionary, which defined “course” as “a series of lectures, lessons or instructional sessions... especially leading to an examination or qualification.” Magistrate Arthur Lam adjourned the case to April 10 to deliver his verdict. Founded in 2020, Book Punch, located in Sham Shui Po, occasionally runs talks and workshops related to social issues and current affairs. Last year, Beijing-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po accused Book Punch and other bookstores of engaging in “soft resistance” over an independent book fair they were organising. The term “soft resistance” has come to be used by Chinese and Hong Kong officials as a phrase referring to threats to national security, but they have not been specific about what it means.