The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday sparred over comments by Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), that studying mother tongues in school is a waste of resources.
Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) “is what I speak at home. Why then is it still studied at school?” Lee said on Sunday, adding that the Ministry of Education’s efforts to promote the language are a waste of time and resources.
Her comments echoed remarks last year by Han, the KMT’s presidential candidate, that it was a “waste of time” to include native-language classes in the 12-year national education program.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The DPP yesterday criticized Lee and Han, saying that they were discriminating against mother tongues.
Han should not place the teaching of native and foreign languages on opposite sides, as learning both would not conflict with each other, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) told a news conference.
DPP Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a Puyuma, said that Taiwan is a nation of diverse cultures and ethnicities, but added that her mother tongue, as well as those of others, is endangered because of the former KMT authoritarian regime’s policy of banning “local dialects” in public.
Photo: CNA
Chen said that her efforts to promote the Aboriginal Language Development Act (原住民族語言發展法) aim to rectify the damage of past government policies.
DPP Legislator Chiang Chieh-an (蔣絜安), a Hakka, called on Han and Lee to stop viewing issues from a “colonial government” vantage point, saying that teaching native and foreign languages at school would preserve Taiwan’s unique diversity of ethnicities and maintain a well-rounded worldview.
Lee should not “worship foreign things” simply because she runs Victoria Academy, a bilingual school in Yunlin County, Chiang said, adding that local and foreign languages are equally important.
Shortly after the DPP’s news conference, Han’s campaign held its own to hit back against the DPP’s criticism, with Han’s campaign office spokeswoman Ho Ting-huan (何庭歡) saying that Han has never said that native-language education is not important, or that it should be banned.
Lee’s comments only highlighted that fragmented learning of a native language at school would inhibit educational efficacy, while learning a language at home is more effective, Ho said.
The foreign-language capabilities of Taiwanese students have for decades lagged behind those of students in Hong Kong and the Philippines, Ho said, adding that future generations will be at a severe disadvantage.
Learning English should be the focus in school, in addition to promoting clubs, activities and a household environment conducive to the learning of mother tongues, she said.
The Han campaign is against radical ideology, discrimination, increased divisiveness between ethnic groups and slander, she added.
Han and Lee have offered more choices for language learning policies, an area in which the Ministry of Education has sadly been lacking since the DPP took power in 2016, Ho said.
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