Lawmakers and representatives from a financially troubled high school yesterday accused the Ministry of Education of neglecting the school after a large part of its staff was laid off and school property was misappropriated under a badly-functioning school board.
They said the ministry should assume full responsibility for the school's woes, as their calls for assistance from authorities over the last two years have gone largely ignored.
"Since 1999, the Hsia Nan Senior High School (
"Although agreeing to offer help six months ago, the education ministry has not honored any of its promises. Instead, it punished the school by putting a ban on recruiting new students."
Making matters worse, Lai said, was that 80 percent of its faculty had been laid off in July. With only a dozen teachers remaining after the lay-offs, the lawmaker voiced concern over the education of the remaining 600 or so students.
Lai condemned the ministry for making innocent students and faculty scapegoats for the school board's wrongdoing. He also lashed out at the education ministry for failing to prevent the school's property, valued at NT$60 million, from being embezzled by board members.
Ironically, the lawmaker said, the school was commended by the ministry last year for its "excellent performance" and it continued receiving government funding totaling NT$100 million between 1995 and last year.
* They further charge that halting student recruitment damages the school's finances and inhibits the education of the remaining 600 students.
One of the teachers said yesterday that the school owed its faculty NT$30 million in unpaid salaries since the crisis first erupted two years ago and that some of the teachers had not been paid for an entire year. To add insult to injury, after the 90-plus faculty members were laid off, the school offered none of them severance pay.
"Instead of curbing its recruitment, the ministry should take over the management of the school for the sake of the students and teachers, and help the school reform its board in a timely manner," the teacher said, dubbing the decision to curtail recruitment "irresponsible."
He added that the principal and its board members -- all family members -- are still listed on the school's payroll despite the fact that no one has seen or heard from any of them for months.
Vice Minister of Education Wu Tieh-hsiung (
If the school continues to enroll new students under such poor management, the ministry can't safeguard the interests of these new students and their parents ... The ministry will arrange for current students to transfer if the situation fails to improve."
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