Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower Fanny Law was named Commissioner of Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in place of Raymond Wong, Chief Executive Donald Tsang announced yesterday.

Law said she would lead the work "in an impartial way according to law to make the SAR one of the world's cleanest and fairest places".

Wong had been shifted to the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) to take up Law's job.

In announcing the appointment, Tsang said Law had made significant contributions to education and believed she could lead the anti-graft body to make Hong Kong a clean society.

Law joined the government in 1975 as an executive officer and was appointed to the administrative service in 1977.

She was appointed Director for Education in 1998 and promoted to Secretary for Education and Manpower in 2000. She was appointed as the EMB permanent secretary in 2002.

"Law has rich public administration experience. She is impartial and keen on taking responsibility. I firmly believe that she could lead the ICAC to maintain Hong Kong as one of the cleanest cities in the world," the chief executive said.

Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li said he would miss Law as she was an enthusiastic civil servant.

Commenting on her appointment, Law said it was destiny that took her to head the commission as she had applied for work in its community relations department 31 years ago.

She pledged that she would work hard to emulate the path of late Sir Jack Cater, the ICAC founding commissioner.

Cater spearheaded the government's successful bid during 1974-75 to extradite the infamously corrupt police chief superintendent Peter Godber who escaped to London while under investigation.

Cater passed away in Guernsey Island in April and his family recently held a memorial service in Hong Kong.

"I have worked with a lot of professionals during my civil servant life and I am getting along well with the colleagues of different departments. I will respect the professionalism of colleagues at ICAC," she said.

Dismissing suggestions that she had poor relationship with teachers, she said the reshuffle was a routine affair.

"This is the right time to move as the blueprint for education has been broadly implemented and the implementation timeline has been mapped out," she said.

Law's successor, 49-year-old Wong, joined the administrative service in 1970. He had been appointed as the anti-graft body commissioner in 2003.

Education Commission, Curriculum Development Council and Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications said Law had fully devoted herself to improving education quality.

Various reforms have been implemented during Law's office, including the scrapping of using much-criticized primary six students aptitude test as secondary school places allocation criteria and reducing students banding from five to three, which she hoped would minimize labelling effect on low achievers.

English and Putonghua teachers were also asked to pass benchmark assessment during her tenure.

The government has finalized the plan for introducing the "3-3-4" reform in 2009, meaning a three-year junior secondary, three-year senior secondary and four-year tertiary education.

Law was known for being fully involved in the job and even completed an education master degree last year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), but some teachers said they could not cope with the fast-paced reform.

However, Law's teacher, CUHK educational psychological department chairman Hau Kit-tai said it was unfair to criticize Law for controversial policies as they had been on-going even before she was appointed.

Hau said Law had always been serious at her studies, using her leave to finish homework, and she was keen on exchanging views with classmates.

Admiring Law for bringing about changes in education sector, such as having more subsidies and diversified schools environment, Hau said: "Law made efforts in other areas such as birth rate drop and schools were eager to take new initiatives to attract students, including field trips," he said.

"She was willing to press ahead even while facing pressure if it concerned students' interests. For example, the 3-3-4 reform is a complicated task, but the bureau can still finalize a plan," he said.

Hong Kong Institute of Education lecturer Ip Kin-yuen said Law did not only take education as a job, but also as a career.

Ip hoped Law's successor Wong would listen to teachers' views on the 3-3-4 reform and enhance their morale.

Education Convergence vice-president Ho Hon-kuen said Law reflected the attitude that senior officials should concern about education development.

He hoped Wong would prioritize the reform initiatives, and postpone the non-urgent tasks.

A secondary school principal Tai Hay-lap said that Law had helped obtaining extra government funding for education.