No new students for three financially ailing schools

Three private high schools were banned yesterday by the Ministry of Education from recruiting new students for the upcoming school year because of their poor management.

The ban, which will last for one year, was placed on Hsia Nan Senior High School (嘉南高中) in Chiayi County, Westminster High School (培元中學) in Changhua County and Chien Yeh Senior High School (建業高中) in Tainan City.

The ministry decision was based on recommendations from a special commission on private schools (私校諮詢委員會) under the education ministry, set up in the wake of a number of financial scandals involving such institutions in the last year.

Vice Minister of Education Wu Tieh-hsiung (吳鐵雄) said yesterday that the three schools had to come up with a workable financial restructuring plan within six months or else the ministry might have to transfer current students to other neighboring schools.

In response to the education ministry's decision, more than 20 Hsia Nan teachers yesterday petitioned the ministry, saying that the decision will only make the school's situation worse.

The teachers said that since, as the ministry admits, the problems at their school are a result of mismanagement by the board of governors, controlled by the school principal Huang Shu- tsun (黃曙村) and his family members, it was better to dismiss the board and appoint a new one rather than leave the same board to clear up the mess it was responsible for creating.

The teachers said that once Hsia Nan stopped recruiting new students, the school's financial crisis would become even worse.

It would also harm the education of the remaining 600-plus students, the teachers said.

The teachers, along with some legislators, earlier also accused the ministry of neglecting the school after a large part of its staff was laid off and school property was misappropriated under the badly-functioning school board.

About 80 percent of the school's faculty have recently been laid off, with only a dozen teachers remaining on the payroll.

Ironically, the school was commended by the ministry last year for its "excellent performance" and had received government funding between 1995 and last year.

Ministry officials said in their defense yesterday that students' well-being had to be their top priority. To allow financially troubled schools to continue recruiting students might put those students' future educational success at risk.

Meanwhile, the ministry also announced yesterday that another two private schools -- Ta Cheng Vocational High School (大成工商) and Yi Hsin Senior High School (益鋅高商), both located in Yunlin County -- are also facing serious financial difficulties.

The ministry, however, has yet to decide whether to take action over these two schools.

According to ministry officials,the school boards of Hsia Nan, Ta Cheng and Yi Hsin are, in fact, all controlled by the Huang family.

Huang Shu-tsun's younger brother, Huang Shu-tung (黃曙東), is currently the school principal of Ta Cheng.

Local media have reported that these schools' financial problems were the result of the Huang family's poorly-judged real estate investments overseas, mostly in China.