On March 5, Vice Minister of Education Huang Pi-twan and Ma Jung-tsai from the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) personnel department went to Pingtung County in southern Taiwan to attend a forum on pension reform for teachers with active and retired teachers. The ministry stressed that reforms would be directed toward healthy finances, social fairness, intergenerational tolerance, pragmatism and stability. The teachers responded with criticism, saying that although the Civil Service Pension Fund had lost money due to stock market investments and might even go broke, no officials would step down to take responsibility. Still, they wanted civil servants to increase their contributions and receive less in return and at a later age. They could not resist criticizing the government for being inept, and the two parties failed to come to a common understanding.
Ma began by explaining the current system and the direction of the new system, stressing that they were visiting the various counties and cities to build a common understanding, adding that the ministry did not have last say, and that it would have to pass three legislative readings. He also said that due to the troubled national finances, the current 75 system (retirement available after 25 years of work and at the age of 50) for elementary and junior high schools would have to be changed to a 90 system (retirement available after 30 years of work and at the age of 60), which would mean that the retirement age would be delayed. However, understanding that the burden is heavier for kindergarten, elementary school and junior high school teachers than for senior high school, vocational school and university teachers, Ma said they would work toward an 85 system for these teachers. In terms of the preferential interest rate on pension savings, that would also drop, by 1 percent annually for four years, from the current 12 percent to 9 percent, where it would remain. Retired public school teachers that took up a teaching position at a private school would have to choose either monthly retirement payments or the salary at the new school.
When the active and retired teachers attending the forum were allowed to ask questions, Huang Fu-tien, head of Pingtung County Education Industry Union, took aim directly the stock market speculation with the Civil Service Pension Fund’s money saying that it was inappropriate, and that it might become bankrupt several years from now. Despite that, Huang said, officials and the fund manager were not held responsible, but instead teachers were forced to increase their contributions, receive less in return and retire at a later age.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃良傑
Teachers from the county’s Siwei and Chonglan elementary schools said that the new system would punish and scare off new teachers. They expressed concerns that the basis for the ministry’s calculations was wrong. If elementary and junior high school teachers’ monthly retirement income replacement was as high as 95 percent, and commercial insurance offered high payments for high contributions, then why else would they have to pay more and get less under new system. The teachers felt that any unreasonable circumstances should be reformed, but there could not be any exploitation. They said that the government didn’t know what it was doing, and therefore was forced to cut the benefits for public school teachers.
(Liberty Times, translated by Perry Svensson)
教育部次長黃碧端與教育部人事處專門委員馬榮財昨南下屏縣,針對教育人員年金改革與退休、在職的老師座談,教育部強調,朝財務健全、社會公平、世代包容、務實穩健改革,但老師們反批退撫基金操盤賠錢,甚至快破產,卻無官員負責下台,反要公務員繳費多、領回少、延後領,忍不住批評馬政府 無能,雙方並無共識產生。
馬榮財先說明現行舊制與新制未來方向,強調巡迴各縣市座談是為凝聚共識,未來不是教育部說了算,得由立法院三讀通 過;他表示,現行國中小學教師退休採七五制,因國家財政困難,年金改革包括七五制改九○制,即延後退休時間,但體恤幼兒園、國中小老師負荷遠較高中、大專 教師沉重,這群老師朝八五制精神改革,至於退撫優惠存款利率,也將由百分之十二逐年遞減百分之一,直到第四年調降到百分之九後,就不再調降,公立學校退休人員若再到私 校工作,必須月退俸與新職薪擇一。
座談會上開放在職與退休教師提問,屏縣教師產業工會理事長黃莆田,直指退撫金操盤不當,數年後面臨破產,官員與經理人卻不用負責,反而強迫出錢的老師繳更多、領更少,還得延後多年才能領。
屏東縣四維、崇蘭國小老師現場發言時指出,新制在懲罰、嚇跑新進老師,質疑教育部計算基礎有誤,才會造成中小學老師月退所得替代率高達百分之九十五,況且一般商業保險都是「繳多領多」,為何年金新制會「繳多領少」,老師們都認為若有不合理就應改革,但不能剝好幾層皮,馬政府似亂了手腳,只會砍軍公教人員的福利。
(自由時報記者黃良傑)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
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