Premier William Lai (賴清德) has directed the Ministry of Education to look at ways to ease regulations that ban English-language education at preschools in an effort to start the process of transforming Taiwan into a nation that speaks Chinese and English.
Lai issued the instruction at a meeting last week with officials from the ministry and the National Development Council (NDC), Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said on Thursday in response to media queries about the premier’s plan to make Taiwan a bilingual country, with Chinese and English as official languages.
Kolas said that during the meeting, which discussed how to best ensure the development of bilingual education, it was suggested that the earlier children start learning a language, the quicker they begin to use it.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Lai later instructed the ministry to look at ways to relax regulations that prohibit English-language education at preschools, she said.
Currently, no teaching of foreign languages is allowed at preschools, while the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) stipulates that foreigners can only teach at universities, colleges, high schools or cram schools, with few exceptions allowed.
Given the important role played by language in promoting national development, the premier also instructed the council to lead the way in drafting policies to turn Taiwan into a bilingual nation, Kolas said.
Meanwhile, NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said that a a “bilingual country” is defined as one in which most people can read, write, speak and understand two languages.
With that goal in mind, Lai defined the promotion of a bilingual nation as a short-term goal, while pushing for the long-term goal of embracing English as a second official language, Chen said.
She said the council would propose administrative plans or programs for the policy by the end of the year.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS