Groups yesterday protested the Ministry of Education’s bid to “slightly adjust” the national high-school curriculum, calling the move part of a “brainwashing” policy that would see the new curriculum reflect a more China-oriented perspective.
Despite the groups’ opposition, the ministry later formally approved a new curriculum on Chinese literature and social sciences.
“Taiwanese have fought long and hard to reach a stage where there is much less political influence on our education, so it is therefore unacceptable that the government under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] is making an U-turn on this progress,” Jim Lee (李筱峰), a professor at National Taipei University of Education’s Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture, told a rally in front of the ministry in Taipei.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“The so-called ‘slight adjustment’ is not slight at all, it’s a fundamental and dramatic change from a Taiwan-oriented perspective to a China-oriented perspective in education,” Lee added.
Saying that the current curriculum is “too friendly” when it comes to describing the period when Japan controlled Taiwan and unconstitutional when describing China, ministry officials and members of its curriculum outlines adjustment task force have proposed calling the era of Tokyo’s rule the “Japanese colonial period” and referring to “China” as “Mainland China” in textbooks.
They also proposed making adjustments to the description of the period when the nation was under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) authoritarian regime.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“I am totally opposed to replacing Taiwan’s perspective for China’s in our nation’s history classes,” National Taipei University student Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤) said. “Taiwanese history can be neither Chinese history, nor KMT history.”
National Taiwan University history professor Chen Tsui-lien (陳翠蓮) criticized the government for making such dramatic changes clandestinely.
“These are major alterations and therefore require more public participation,” she said.
As the groups protested outside the ministry, another group of demonstrators led by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan tried to block the entrance to the National Academy for Educational Research (NAER), where the curriculum task force was meeting.
“We’re here to stop the task force from making rash decisions without consulting the public,” alliance convener Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) said. “This is such a controversial issue, it should not be decided without having more public discussions — especially when NAER vice president Tzeng Shih-jay [曾世杰] promised us on Friday that he would organize public hearings before making any decisions.”
The protesters briefly stopped some task force members from entering the building, but were removed by police after severe clashes.
The ministry said the changes are based on the 12-year national education system, which is set to be implemented in August, and aimed at achieving better continuity between junior-high and senior-high school textbooks.
After reviewing the curriculum on literature and social sciences, the ministry said it would next review health and physical education.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) condemned the ministry for not halting the initiative.
“The ‘adjustment’ of the curriculum outlines is not an adjustment, but a total overhaul,” DPP spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
The ministry’s changes “seriously conflict” with most people’s understanding about the nation’s history and geography, Chang said, adding that more than 85 percent of respondents in a DPP opinion poll say that the country’s territory includes Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, but not “mainland China.”
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS