Commission Against Corruption, Macao SAR

When following up a complaint, the CCAC found that a public department which participated in the “Youth Summer Internship Programme 2025” did not strictly supervise and verify students' attendance records such that it failed to assist the students in building a positive life and work attitude. After the CCAC had raised the issue, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) issued updated instructions to all public and private institutions which participated in the programme prior to launching the new round of the programme this year. Some departments also adopted more effective supervisory measures.

The CCAC followed up a complaint against a specific department. It was alleged that an intern who participated in the programme was late for work and left the work early repeatedly and failed to fill out the “Internship Attendance Sheet” in accordance with his actual working hours. It was doubted if there was a lack of supervision and verification on relevant records.

After the CCAC's investigation, it came to light that during the internship period, the student was indeed late for work repeatedly and that he failed to fill out the attendance records in accordance with the actual time of arriving and leaving for work. Instead, he filled out the sheet with the scheduled working hours of the department. In addition, the student had also, after being late for work, returned to his workplace early in the afternoon to compensate for the loss of working hours on his own initiative. However, he did not make prior declaration to or obtain approval from his chief and failed to show the time compensation arrangement in his records.

The CCAC considers that the purpose of the Youth Summer Internship Programme is to encourage young students to actively integrate into society, learn by doing and develop an active and positive life and learning attitude. Therefore, the public and private institutions which participate in the programme should assist students in developing a correct attitude to work through clear instructions and appropriate supervision. They should strictly verify the attendance records in order to ensure the programme is clearly understood and runs in an orderly manner. Moreover, since the number of internship hours is a crucial factor in determining the granting of subsidies and verifying whether the students have completed the training successfully, the attendance records must be true, accurate and available for verification.

After the CCAC had raised its suggestions, before the new round of the programme was launched in 2026, the DSEDJ issued an updated version of the “Instructions on the Handling of Interns' Attendance by Institutions Offering Internship” along with the relevant list of tasks to around 70 public and private institutions in Macao which participated in the programme. The instructions stipulate that supervisors must explain the attendance arrangements, verify the attendance records daily and keep and confirm the written attendance sheets. The instructions also clearly state the requirements regarding the storage of attendance records, compensation for loss of working hours due to late arrival, deduction of internship hours and reporting of unusual situations. Some public departments have also established internal working guidelines, adopted access cards to record interns' attendance and standardised the procedures of request for leave, compensation for loss of working hours and reporting of unusual situations.