President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should set a timeline for and clarify the contents of planned changes to controversial high-school curriculum guidelines, as schools begin their textbook selection processes, civic groups said yesterday, adding that chaos could erupt if changes are announced after Tsai takes office on May 20.
Taiwan Grassroots Education Alliance member Chang Wen-lung (張文隆), a history teacher at New Taipei City Municipal San Min High School, said that Tsai should promise to withdraw the guidelines as soon as she is sworn in on May 20 to clear up possible confusion about her intentions.
“People have serious doubts about the educational policy of the new administration,” Chang said. “[Tsai’s] rhetoric has always been vague, saying that she would address the matter after the presidential election, so if she does not state her stance clearly, it would be unclear what she is hesitating over.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
While Tsai has promised to withdraw the high-school social studies guidelines implemented last year, it is unclear whether the Chinese language and geography portions of the guidelines would be included along with history and civics, Chang said, adding that a timeline for the withdrawal is also unclear.
“We have no idea how long it would take to address history and civics, but if Tsai waits until after textbooks have been chosen and contracts have been signed, continued usage of the guidelines next year would be unavoidable,” he said, adding that while schools have some flexibility over when they choose textbooks, most decisions are made in April and May to allow paperwork to be processed before the summer break.
The Ministry of Education has allowed schools to choose textbooks based on both the old and new sets of guidelines, following controversy over what critics called “China-centric” revisions.
Cheng Chi-jui (鄭啟瑞), a history teacher at New Taipei Municipal Taishan Senior High School, said the continued use of both sets of guidelines doubled the burden of teaching graduates preparing for official exams.
“In addition to familiarizing themselves with the different textbook versions, [teaching graduates] must also keep track of which textbooks are based on the ‘old’ and ‘new’ guidelines, effectively doubling their workload,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said that while her motion to order the withdrawal of the guidelines had garnered 65 signatures — more than a majority of national legislators — the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) used parliamentary procedures to delay a formal vote until next month by exercising its right to demand “cross-caucus negotiations.”
Cheng called for the ministry to immediately withdraw the guidelines on its own initiative, blasting ministry statements that any withdrawal would leave schools without direction.
The Chinese language and social studies components of curriculum guidelines were withdrawn after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took power in 2008, with the ministry simply ordering schools to follow an earlier set of guidelines, Cheng said.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
RSS