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Education ministry clarifies legal status of political schools

The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday clarified that recruiting for Ketagalan Academy and the Lee Teng-hui School does not violate any regulations, in response to the questioning of the two schools' legal status last week.

"As the two schools neither provide credits and degrees to their students, nor try to attract students by doing so, the schools are entitled to keep operating," said Huang Hong-pin (黃宏斌), director of the ministry's Acting Higher Education bureau.

As the Ketagalan Academy was already recruiting students and was scheduled to open on March 29, its legal status was questioned by the public last week.

To resolve the issue, the MOE invited academics and experts yesterday to review the schools' background information.

Under the Private School Law (私立學校法), the Ministry of Education and the education departments of local governments are entitled to shut down or dissolve schools that recruit students without registering with the government, and also to punish the heads of such schools with a fine of NT$50,000 to 150,000.

Before a conclusion was reached yesterday, the Minister of Education, Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村), told the legislature that the two schools would be punished or fined if the ministry decided that their recruiting was illegal.

In his explanation to reporters Huang Hong-pin said that the institutions using the term "school" or "academy" in their names was the reason the public questioned their legal status.

TSU Legislator Chen Cheng-lung (程振隆) meanwhile defended the Lee Teng-hui school, saying that it is just a part of the Taiwan Advocates private think tank. He said it shouldn't be regulated by the Private School Law.

The Ketagalan Academy, a brainchild of Chen, is expected to nurture politically adept officials for roles in a DPP administration.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) will attend the March 29 launching ceremony of Ketagalan Academy.
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