Secretary for Education (Hong Kong)

The position of Secretary for Education and Manpower was set up in 1983 when the old Education Department was restructured into the Education and Manpower Branch and Education Department, and the old position of Director of Education was split into SEM and Director of Education accordingly, with the latter reporting to the former.

Since the Principal Officials Accountability System (POAS) was introduced in 2002, the SEM, as all other secretary positions, is an ex officio member of the Executive Council (ExCo). The position is a political appointment, and its term expires when the Chief Executive leaves office.

Before the introduction of the POAS in July 2002, the SEM, as well as all other secretary-level positions, was a civil service position. The office holder was not a member of the ExCo. Before 1991, the office holders may be appointed by the Governor as ex officio member of the Legislative Council.

At the same time when the POAS was introduced in 2002, the responsibility of labour issues was transferred to the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, formerly Secretary for Economic Services.

According to the proposal tabled by Donald Tsang's administration after he was successfully re-elected as the Chief Executive, the manpower portfolio was transferred to the new Secretary for Labour and Welfare on 1 July 2007. The position of SEM was renamed Secretary for Education.

Political party:   Nonpartisan

Inspectors of Schools, 1862–1909

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Governor	Ref
1		Frederick Stewart 史釗域	3 March 1862	6 March 1878	Sir Hercules Robinson
					Sir Richard MacDonnell (1866–1872)
					Sir Arthur Kennedy (1872–1877)
					Sir John Hennessy (1877–1882)
2		Ernest John Eitel 歐德理	7 March 1878	1897
					Sir George Bowen (1883–1885)
					Sir William Des Voeux (1887–1891)
					Sir William Robinson (1891–1898)
3		Arthur Winbolt Brewin 蒲魯賢	15 August 1897	1901
					Sir Henry Blake (1898–1903)
4		Edward Alexander Irving 伊榮	24 April 1901	7 April 1909
					Sir Matthew Nathan (1903–1907)
					Sir Frederick Lugard (1907–1912)

Directors of Education, 1909–1941

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Governor	Ref
1		Edward Alexander Irving 伊榮	8 April 1909	7 February 1924	Sir Frederick Lugard (1907–1912)
					Sir Francis Henry May (1912–1918)
					Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs (1919–1925)
2		Geoffrey Norman Orme 庵氏	1924	1926
					Sir Cecil Clementi (1925–1930)
3		Alan Eustace Wood 活雅倫	1926	1933
					Sir William Peel (1930–1935)
4		Norman Lockhart Smith 史美	1933	1934
5		Geoffrey Robley Sayer 佘義	1934	1938
					Sir Andrew Caldecott (1935–1937)
					Sir Geoffry Northcote (1937–1941)
6		Clifford George Sollis 梳利士	1938	1941
					Mark Aitchison Young (1941)

Directors of Education, 1946–1983

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Governor	Ref
7		Thomas Richmond Rowell 柳惠露	1946	1950	Sir Mark Aitchison Young (1946–1947)
					Sir Alexander Grantham (1947–1957)
8		Douglas James Smyth Crozier 高詩雅	1950	28 April 1961
					Sir Robert Brown Black (1958–1964)
9		Peter Donohue 唐露曉	29 April 1961	20 February 1964		[2]
10		William David Gregg 簡乃傑	21 February 1964	5 June 1969	Sir David Trench (1964–1971)	[3][4]
11		John Canning 簡寧	6 June 1969	1974		[4]
					Sir Murray MacLehose (1971–1982)
12		Kenneth Wallis Joseph Topley 陶建	1974	1983

Secretaries for Education and Manpower, 1983–1997

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Governor	Ref
1		James Neil Henderson 韓達誠	1983	25 August 1986	Sir Edward Youde (1982–1986)	[5]
2		R. G. B. Bridge 布立之	26 August 1986	1989	Sir David Wilson (1987–1992)	[5]
3		Yeung Kai-yin 楊啟彥	1989	1991
4		John Chan 陳祖澤	1991	1993
					Chris Patten (1992–1997)
5		Leung Man-kin 梁文建	1993	1995
6		Joseph Wong 王永平	August 1995	30 June 1997

Secretaries for Education and Manpower, 1997–2007

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Duration	Chief Executive	Term	Ref
1		Joseph Wong Wing-ping 王永平	1 July 1997	3 July 2000	3 years, 2 days	Tung Chee-hwa (1997–2005)	1
2		Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun 羅范椒芬	3 July 2000	3 June 2002	1 year, 362 days
3		Arthur Li Kwok-cheung 李國章	1 July 2002	30 June 2007	5 years, 0 days		2
						Donald Tsang (2005–2012)	2

Secretaries for Education, 2007–present

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Duration	Chief Executive	Term	Ref
1		Michael Suen Ming-yeung 孫明揚	1 July 2007	30 June 2012	5 years, 0 days	Donald Tsang (2005–2012)	3
2		Eddie Ng Hak-kim 吳克儉	1 July 2012	30 June 2017	5 years, 0 days	Leung Chun-ying (2012–2017)	4
3		Kevin Yeung Yun-hung 楊潤雄	1 July 2017	30 June 2022	5 years, 0 days	Carrie Lam (2017–present)	5
4		Christine Choi Yuk-lin 蔡若蓮	1 July 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 117 days	John Lee (2022–present)	6

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• Organisation chart of Hong Kong Government