The Ministry of Education on Wednesday announced that courses in the nation’s native languages would be compulsory from as early as 2016, news that was welcomed by most parent groups and teachers’ organizations.
Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) said that the revised education curriculum for the 12-year compulsory national education program would include Taiwanese (also known as Hoklo), Hakka and Aboriginal languages.
Chiang said that students in junior-high school would have at least one class a week learning a native language, which will be implemented by making the optional courses compulsory.
The National Academy for Educational Research is responsible for revising and updating the school curriculum for the shift to the 12-year national education program starting next year.
The native-language classes would be complulsory from grade one through grade six, consisting of one class per week. Students have the option of choosing between Taiwanese, Hakka or one of the other Aboriginal languages.
Under the current program, native languages are an optional course in junior-high school, with teachers conducting the course in the form of an extracurricular social club at most schools.
Chang Chia-yen (張嘉讌), chairperson of the Alliance for Taiwanese Mother Tongue, endorsed the new policy.
“The ministry has finally placed native languages on the list of compulsory courses. It will enable students to develop their native language learning beyond elementary school,” Chang said.
She said the ministry should also have complementary assessments for the program, such as a review of the certification process for teachers of native languages, and the need to update and develop new textbooks for junior-high students.
Union of Education in Taiwan chairperson Cheng Cheng-yu (鄭正煜) said teaching native-language courses at the junior-high level was insufficient.
“When the 12-year compulsory national education gets under way, we request that it should become compulsory from grade one all the way to grade 12. Only then can it become a genuine ‘Taiwan native language education’ program,” Cheng said.
National Alliance of Parents Organization head Wu Fu-bin (吳福濱) approved.
“The government has the responsibility to promote and implement native-language education. Alongside Taiwan’s native languages, people should also consider giving flexible options to students from new immigrant groups,” Wu said.
However, Secondary and Elementary School Principals Association chairperson Hsueh Chun-kuang (薛春光) saw things differently.
“Right now the school courses are quite full at the junior-high level. All the current required courses are competing intensely for classroom and teaching slots. If we add the native-language courses, then the students’ class time and workloads will increase,” Hsueh said.
“We believe it is better for students to choose to learn native languages in the setting of school social clubs,”Hsueh added.
A sixth-grade student in Taipei, surnamed Chen (陳), said he really liked to hear his grandparents talking in Taiwanese, but that he had difficulty speaking it himself.
“When I get into junior-high school, the course work will be heavier for me. If we can have one class focused on learning Taiwanese, it will help moderate a day full of other more rigorous academic courses,” Chen said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS