Taiwan’s low fertility rate has a record number of schools in Greater Tainan switching over to the open admissions system, with 123 and 19 of Greater Tainan’s elementary and junior high schools making the change respectively. Dealing with competitive enrollment, many school principals are gasping at how free tutorials and art classes no longer attract new students, and instead are having to rely on academic performance to draw parents and students.
Greater Tainan’s Bureau of Education says that changes in the urban structure, coupled with the effects of the low fertility rate, have gradually brought about a downturn in new student enrollment, making it difficult for schools to continue operating. There were already many “open admissions school districts” prior to the merger of former Tainan county and city, districts which were open to any new student registered for a household in former Tainan city. The students were not restricted to any particular school district either. After the merger, “schools in open admissions school districts” became simply “open admissions schools,” while enrollment qualifications were left unchanged.
During the 2012 academic year, when the county and city had just merged, there were a total of three junior high schools and 23 elementary schools designated as open admissions schools. The following academic year the bureau began taking into consideration the operational situation of schools, regardless of whether they are junior high schools or elementary schools. As long as a school had fewer than six classes in all, it was automatically designated as an open admissions school, which brought the total number of open admissions junior high schools to four, while the number of such elementary schools sharply increased to 108.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者蔡文居
Around a dozen other schools this year, besides the schools that already had open admissions status, submitted applications to allow open admissions. After being reviewed by the bureau, a total of 19 junior high schools and 123 elementary schools have been issued open admissions status — a new high for both elementary and junior high schools.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
少子化影響,台南市兩百一十七所國小、六十二所國中今年將各有一百廿三所、十九所規劃為自由入學學校,雙雙創下新高;面對招生競爭,有校長感嘆,以往免費課輔、才藝班等誘因已不如前,還是要拚辦學績效,吸引家長與學子。
台南教育局指出,都市結構改變,加上少子化影響,新生入學人數有逐年遞減趨勢,也對學校經營造成困難,早在縣市合併前,原台南縣市就已經有不少學校申請「自由學區」,只要設籍台南市的新生,都可申請就讀,不受學區限制,縣市合併後,「自由學區學校」改稱為「自由入學學校」,入學資格不變。
一○一學年度,縣市剛合併時,全市有三所國中、廿二所國小列為自由入學學校。一○二學年度,教育局考量學校經營狀況,不論國中小,只要學校總班級數低於六班,就主動列為自由入學學校,也因此國中增加為四所,國小更一口氣暴增到一○八所。
今年除了原自由入學學校外,還有十餘所學校提出申請,經過教育局審核,最後決定國中有十九所,國小有一百廿三所核准通過,雙雙創下新高。
(自由時報記者黃文鍠)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
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)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into