The Ministry of Education (MOE) is considering demanding that all foreign brides receive Chinese-language training courses as soon as they arrive in Taiwan, Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (
"We are considering requiring all foreign brides to study Chinese once they set foot on the island, " Fan said at a seminar on adult education for foreign brides organized by the Taipei county government.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Fan said the ministry has also decided to ease restrictions on foreign brides intending to receive higher education in Taiwan. In the future, she said, foreign brides who have obtained permanent residency or Taiwan passports can apply to enter local educational institutions.
Due to the changing social situation, Fan went on, the number of foreign women marrying Taiwan men has increased substantially in recent years.
"We should not discriminate against foreign brides and should treat them with respect and concern," Fan said, adding that educational and welfare service agencies should integrate their resources to help foreign brides get accustomed to Taiwan's social norms, customs, culture and way of life.
As foreign brides play an essential role in child-rearing and education, Fan said, the MOE will cooperate closely with local governments and educational institutes in offering practical educational programs and training workshops for foreign brides.
Speaking on the same occasion, Lin Kuei-chih, academic affairs director of Wanli Elementary School in Taipei County, said that the school began to operate a special education class for foreign brides three years ago.
"At the beginning, the teachers had a hard time communicating with the foreign brides. After three years of effort, however, many of them can speak and read Chinese and can use phonetic symbols and dictionaries," Lin said.
According to government tallies, the number of foreign spouses had reached 91,300 as of the end of last year. Among them, 85,194 were women, while the remainder were men.
If the number of foreign brides increases at an estimated annual rate of 17,000, the number of foreign brides will reach 150,000 in four years, equivalent to the minimum population required to form a city under the jurisdiction of a county government.
In 1998, foreign spouses accounted for 7.13 percent of the people who registered their marriages during the year, a ratio that rose to 11.38 percent in 2001 and surged further to 11.65 percent last year.
A total of 17,339 foreign women married Taiwan men last year, while 2,768 foreign bridegrooms tied the knot with Taiwan women.
In terms of nationality, Vietnamese women formed the largest group of foreign brides in Taiwan, totaling 42,713 at the end of last year; followed by Indonesians at 10,662. Other countries who have at least 1,000 women married to Taiwanese men were Thailand, the Phili-ppines, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia and the US.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS