The Ministry of Education yesterday passed a resolution to change the name of schools' "native literature" programs to "Taiwan literature" in a bid to better define the subject that gives students an understanding of local culture.
Liu I-chuan
The decision was reached after the ministry's Local Education Committee suggested that the title be changed in order to better reflect the contents of the subject, which teaches Taiwan-centered art, history, religion, music and custom.
The resolution was passed yesterday in the MOE's regular meeting to examine the current implementation of the Nine Year Education Program, which combines elementary school and junior high school education.
"The study of Taiwan literature is deemed a clear study subject in the academic research field. It is also a rising research subject in higher education. Many universities in Taiwan have set up departments of Taiwan Literature Study," Liu said.
To keep abreast of this trend, the ministry decided to change the "native literature" course into "Taiwan literature," Liu said.
The committee also made other minor changes to the teaching guidelines, such as changing the name of Min-nan culture course to "Learning About Ethnic Cultures" in a bid to include the many varied cultures in Taiwan, such as Hakka and aboriginal cultures.
However, the renaming of the education guidelines sparked rumors that the changes were aimed at imposing political ideology, that would create conflict between the pro-unification camp and the pro-independence camp.
KMT lawmaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), refused to endorse the resolution in a move to boycott what he said was the ministry's imposition of a political ideology into the teaching material.
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