Hong Kong bookstore owner fined HK$32,000 for using shop as unregistered school
Court rejects Pong Yat-ming’s defence that Spanish course held at his shop, Book Punch, was merely an ‘interest class’
A Hong Kong independent bookstore owner has been fined HK$32,000 (US$4,085) for holding a Spanish class in his shop after a court ruled the course took place at an unregistered school.
Pong Yat-ming, 52, was convicted on Friday of violating the Education Ordinance by organising a Spanish course in April last year at Book Punch, a bookstore he founded in Sham Shui Po in 2020.
Kowloon City Court earlier heard Pong’s defence at his trial, where he testified that he held the basic language course to promote Spanish culture as an “interest class”.
He denied a total of five summary offences levelled against him and his company, Active Experiential Learning Company Limited.
The bookstore owner said he “genuinely believed” that even though the course was educational and included teaching material about Spanish grammar and language usage, it still did not fall under the definition of a school under the Education Ordinance.
Pong pointed out that the then acting secretary for education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung told the Legislative Council in 2017, that “courses which simply aim at developing a hobby or an interest” did not require school registration.