The legislature yesterday passed amendments to the Senior High School Education Act (高級中等教育法) to overhaul the review process for the curriculum guidelines, which sparked protests against lack of transparency last year.
The amendments mandate that to improve accountability, the curriculum guidelines evaluation committee should be at the level of the Executive Yuan and its membership must include both governmental and nongovernmental representatives, including students’ representatives, who were not allowed a say previously.
Committee members affiliated with the government cannot exceed one-quarter of the total membership and nongovernmental committee members are to be selected through a process similar to that of the Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation’s board of directors.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The amended law authorizes education-related institutions, schools, legal personnel and groups to submit proposals for curriculum changes, in addition to permanently established governmental organizations dedicated to curriculum research and development.
Curriculum guideline research, development, evaluation and implementation must respect the guiding principles of ethnic pluralism, gender equality, transparency and political non-partisanship with regard to political parties, the amendment says.
In response to public criticism of the composition of curriculum guideline evaluation committees, the amended act is to limit government representatives in the curriculum guidelines committee to no more than one-quarter of its total of between 41 and 49 members.
Government representatives on the committee are to be nominated by the Ministry of Education from central and local government personnel and approved by the premier, the amendment says.
Nongovernmental committee members are to be nominated by the Executive Yuan and are to be accredited educational professionals, and are to include experts, academics, school principals, teachers and other education-related nongovernmental organizations, in addition to parents and students.
Nominations must be submitted to a panel appointed by the legislature for approval, the amendment says.
The panel will comprise of between 11 and 15 legislature-appointed objective and nongovernmental individuals, and is to approve the Executive Yuan’s nominee list (of the nongovernmental committee members) by a majority vote, it says.
A curriculum guideline evaluation committee member has a term of four years, with the possibility of serving consecutive terms, and each gender cannot have less representation than one-third of the committee.
Aborigines must be present in both the governmental and nongovernmental committee membership bodies, the amendment says.
To improve democracy on campus, the amendment also requires the presence of democratically elected student representatives or student association representatives on senior high school disciplinary committees.
Premier Simon Chang (張善政) responded to the amendment’s passage yesterday by saying that, while he understands that legislators want to emphasize the importance of the curriculum issue by elevating the evaluation committee to Executive Yuan level, he believes that “governmental responsibilities must be principally discharged by the relevant government agency.”
Chang said that he is concerned about the “available manpower” at the Executive Yuan and he would suggest that premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) “reconsider” the passage of the amendment.
The Czech Republic’s Senate on Wednesday passed a resolution that supports a possible visit by the senate president to Taiwan. The resolution, initiated by Czech Senator Pavel Fischer, was passed with 50 votes in favor, one against and one abstention. The resolution blasts Beijing for having its Prague embassy send a letter to former Czech Senate president Jaroslav Kubera earlier this year threatening repercussions for Czech businesses if he visited Taiwan. The resolution shows the Senate’s support for a visit to Taiwan by Senate President Milos Vystrcil, accompanied by Czech business representatives, as the visit would be in the diplomatic long-term interests
The government and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday both spoke out against plans by the Chinese government to enact a national security law in Hong Kong. Chinese officials yesterday confirmed that the National People’s Congress would review a bill “on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security.” The Presidential Office said that the announcement was evidence that the “one country, two systems” framework fundamentally clashes with democratic freedoms. The de-escalation of tensions between Hong Kong and Beijing relies on the Chinese government’s willingness to respond to Hong Kongers’ demands,
STRONGER DEFENSES: The announcement could be considered tacit US support for the nation’s indigenous arms manufacturing program, Joseph Wu told lawmakers Just hours after President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inauguration on Wednesday, the US Department of State’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced in Washington the possible sale of 18 MK-48 Heavy Weight Torpedoes to Taiwan. Reacting to the announcement, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee that the ministry applauded the US move, which would help to uphold the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). The TRA states that the US should “provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character … to maintain the capacity of the US to resist any resort
NPP WARNING: The NPP’s chairman said that a security law proposed by Beijing means it has renounced its promise to maintain ‘one country, two systems’ in HK The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday proposed changing the law to provide protection for those seeking political asylum. China at the opening of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Thursday introduced a draft security law for Hong Kong to ban treason, subversion and sedition, with a review expected next week. TPP caucus whip Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said that the party is concerned about democracy advocates in Hong Kong and has taken action to support them. The party has proposed an amendment to Article 18 of the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例), which stipulates that the government can offer
RSS