In a bid to improve Taiwan's chances of assimilating into the international community, Deputy Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) yesterday said that anyone applying for a job at the government's foreign affairs offices should be able to communicate in English. This echoes a Cabinet order that government workers who can't speak good English six years from now must be punished.
Fan made the remark yesterday in a report to a seminar on the Cabinet's proposed national development plan.
He said that current foreign-affairs office workers must be encouraged to improve their English abilities.
In addition, being proficient in English should be a basic requirement for people who want to work in departments such as Taiwan's diplomatic offices, the Council for Economic Planning and Development and the National Science Council.
"We'll definitely need more staffers who can speak at least two languages in the future because the country is diligently trying to be accepted by the international community," Fan said.
"It is necessary to make it a basic requirement for government jobs, at least. We should start at foreign affairs offices."
Fan also encouraged universities to make English proficiency a graduation requirement.
"If professors speak English in class, it will create an English environment for students and make them feel comfortable to use English more and more," she said.
"The ability to use English well should also be a paramount issue when deciding whether students are qualified to receive their degrees," she added.
The Ministry of Education's (MOE) Public Education Department Second Section Chief Lin Dian-chieh (林殿傑) said on Wednesday that government employees will be administratively punished if they are not able to communicate in English six years from now.
According to Lin, the Cabinet gave a direct order to the MOE to carry out a plan which calls for government staffers who cannot communicate in English within six years to be given an "F" symbol on their annual evaluation forms, which will negatively affect their promotions and salaries.
Minister of Education Huang Jung-tsun (
However, he also said that the plan is not the best way to "encourage" government staffers to improve their English.
"Personally, I thought that we should create an end-goal and encourage everybody to reach that goal instead of forcing people to make it by punishing them," Huang said. "That is not the essence of education."
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS