The Ministry of Education said yesterday its alternative to military service was a roaring success.
The educational service program as an alternative to the regular military service was implemented three years ago.
According to the ministry, nearly 5,300 enlisted conscripts have joined the program to teach students in remote areas.
Children of overseas Taiwan businessmen, who have been teaching instead of doing military service, have earned high acclaim by many local principals and parents, the ministry said.
"The conscripts have brought new influences to schools in remote areas and off-shore islands, such as Penghu island and Kinmen," said Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (
She indicated that a shortage of teachers had been a major problem for schools in remote areas.
"Thanks to these `soldiers' in the educational service, the Ministry of Education can save about NT$20 billion per year in reaching the goal of shortening the educational disparity between the cities and the countryside, since every soldier's salary is NT$6,700 a month," Fan said. "But I also told the schools to by no means treat them like cheap workers, which would not be fair to them."
Two programs in the alternative educational services project have been particularly successful, Fan said.
One is to enlist young men to teach students in Taiwanese schools in Southeast Asian countries, where Taiwanese businessmen send their children to learn Chinese.
The other is to enlist the so-called "little overseas students (
With eight months of experience teaching in the China International School in Thailand, Chiu Tzu-ning (
"This is a special adventure in my life. I feel so happy that I can help teach Chinese because the local teachers have a heavy teaching load," Chiu said.
Besides teaching, Fan said, conscripts in the educational service also offered student counseling and guidance for students with disabilities, found dropout students to persuade them to return to school and served as security guards on campuses.
Through such a program the young men can experience things in the social and educational service that they can't in the military, she said.
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