Dion Chen

Dion Chen (Chinese: 陳狄安; Jyutping: can4 dik6 on1) (1979 –) is an educator in Hong Kong. He is the principal of Ying Wa College, who assumed office on 1 September 2021.

On 8 February 2021, Chen announced he would not be renewing his contract at the end of the school year. He stated “I will be moving on to another school in Hong Kong at the end of this school year.” On 19 March 2021, Ying Wa College sent an e-notice to students stating that Chen would be taking over as principal of the school.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, classes of the schools are suspended and students are confined to distance education. While the epidemic situation hinders parents' livelihood, Chen governed the school to help bail out the tuition fees for next academic year. In February 2021, Chen arranged for teachers to be forced COVID-19 testing and change the whole school to resume classes, as the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong has fallen after the Lunar New Year.

As the chairman of Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, Chen took the responsibility of coordination of the DSS schools. Chen helped organising academic trips in summer holidays. Every year students who preferably study Physics can be selected through an interview to participate in the Future Pilot Training Programme organized by the Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many DSS schools have paid or promised to pay more than HK$700,000 deposits to travel agencies for the purpose of organising study tours, although the tours were all cancelled for the year. However, when the government decided to issue red tourism warnings during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong to all overseas countries, travel agencies and airlines took the initiative to contact Chen and the schools to discuss compensation arrangements. The IGCSE and GCE examinations were cancelled, though Chen claimed that the DSS schools were not too worried about the impact on further education of students, as most of them have already obtained conditional offers by that time.

During the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, Chen's secondary school issued a notice in November 2019 announcing the resumption of classes. The article mentioned that the school was notified that games and social networking platforms were recently used to "entice, pressure and intimidate students into participating in protests in return for payment". The notice stated that no students were involved in the school, but parents and students were reminded to be vigilant when going online. Chen received an inquiry from Apple Daily and said that the above news was notified by a staff member of the Education Bureau. The staff suggested that the school should remind parents and students to pay attention. Chen stated that the school did not receive any reports from students or parents of the relevant situation. Because the Education Bureau is an official institution, Chen trusted them, so he did not question the authenticity of the information.

In September 2016, Chen's school provided new school uniform for boys and girls. Teachers have been told by Chen to keep an eye out for students with incorrect school uniforms. Girls wearing socks of the wrong length are forced to wait hours at the school office and miss class time; they are turned away even before school and sent home for showing an inch of their skin. This led the media to believe that Chen was depriving girls of their right to education, shamed girls for showing their ankles, and accused them of distracting boys and teachers. Teachers are told by Chen to enforce this little rule on a regular basis, devoting the time and energy they could use to prepare or make up lessons on it.

Chen and his team launched the Enrichment Week since 2010. Students could join the Service Outreach Scheme or Work placement. Destinations include China, Taiwan, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Cultural exchange programmes are also organised every year. Destinations include Foshan, Spain, France etc.

Chen became a member of the leadership team of his serving school since 2009. His works included continuing and sustaining the international curriculum (UK IGCSE and GCE A/AS-Level syllabuses) and a number of school campus development projects. During his tenure as a principal since 2013, the school has achieved its best academic results with excellent public examination results obtained. 43% of the students achieved A to A*, and 80% of the students achieved C or above, with a pass rate of 100%. 40% to 50% of the graduates were enrolled into universities for further studies every year.

Chen started his career in education in a special school in 2002. This brought him an understanding about teaching and learning to accommodate student's different learning needs. He joined the YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College in 2004 as a Business teacher mainly teaching the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) programme. He was appointed as a HKALE marker by the Hong Kong Examination and Assessment Authority.

Chen was educated in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Australia. He graduated from Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School (formerly named Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Technical School) in 1998. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Accounting and Financial Analysis from the Newcastle University, UK. He had a gap year between Year 2 and Year 3 of his study, and deferred his graduation.