Foreigners planning to work for cram schools as language teachers are to be required to provide documents issued by their home countries guaranteeing good conduct, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
Department of Lifelong Education Director Huang Yueh-li (黃月麗) said the ministry has submitted a proposed amendment to the Supplementary Education Act (補習及進修教育法) to the legislature for review.
The Education and Culture Committee yesterday approved the draft amendment to Article 9 of the act that would tighten regulations on cram-school teachers to ensure the safety of students.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
If passed, the amendment would require first-time applicants for teaching jobs at private institutions to provide documents proving that they had demonstrated good conduct prior to entering the nation.
While the information in the documents may vary from one nation to another, it should be able to prove that applicants have not committed any crimes within a certain period before they are allowed to enter the nation and begin the interview process, Huang said.
Cram schools are to be required to submit the documents to the Ministry of Labor for review, she said, adding that rules governing foreign teachers’ entry and employment would have to be amended.
Taiwan would not the first nation to require expatriates to provide records documenting good behavior when they apply for teaching posts, as other Asian nations, such as Japan and South Korea, have adopted similar policies, she said.
The rule change would not affect foreigners who are already working as teachers at private institutes, who are required to provide Police Criminal Record Certificates issued by the Ministry of the Interior showing that they have not committed any criminal offenses in Taiwan in the three months prior to their employment, she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), who is the convener of the committee, said that foreigners in other lines of work who want to pursue a teaching career would also need to request documents guaranteeing good conduct from the authorities in their home nation.
Ko said she hoped the draft would pass the second and third readings this legislative session.
The draft amendment also includes a penalty of NT$50,000 for institutes that fail to report cases of sexual harassment or assault perpetrated by their employees.
The ministry proposed the amendment amid widespread controversy over the suicide of author Lin Yi-han (林奕含) last month, allegedly due to the trauma she sustained after being raped by a cram-school teacher when she was 17.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS