Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Carrie Lam, on Tuesday supported the Education Bureau's decision to deregister a school teacher for systematically spreading messages related to "Hong Kong independence" in the classroom.

The teacher was found guilty of serious professional misconduct, the Education Bureau said. Investigations showed that the teaching materials designed by the teacher systematically spread messages of "Hong Kong independence," which goes against the constitutional and legal status of the HKSAR under the Basic Law.

Lam emphasized that this is the HKSAR's first case of deregistering a teacher under the Education Ordinance on grounds other than criminal and sexual offenses, according to the records.

She said many professionals in the educational sector want to promote and develop quality education in the HKSAR, but warned that if there is even a very tiny fraction of teachers using their teaching responsibilities to promote misunderstanding about the nation, to smear the country or the HKSAR government, then that is a very "serious matter."

The Education Bureau has probed into more than 200 complaints against the misconduct of teachers filed between June 2019 to August 2020.

Apart from the deregistration, the bureau sent reprimands and warning letters to the other 33 teachers, who could also be disqualified if found guilty of misconduct again.

(With input from Xinhua)