Many Taiwanese students view cram schools only with academic achievement in mind. But a consumer watchdog group yesterday urged students and parents to be wary of the state of fire safety at these facilities before deciding which schools to attend.
Citing the results of a preliminary survey, the Consumer's Foundation yesterday in Taipei urged students and parents to watch out for fire hazards at cram schools.
Volunteers conducted a preliminary survey of 16 legal cram schools in Taipei on Aug. 5, the foundation said. Out of the 16, only two met Taipei city fire safety standards.
The foundation found the cram schools lacking in several major areas. Most schools did not have maps of escape routes available in case of fire, and fire extinguishers were often not marked with expiration dates, the foundation's secretary general Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said.
Volunteers said they inspected schools where escape routes were blocked by furniture or items for storage, hallways too narrow to allow quick passage and broken emergency lights, the foundation said. Many cram schools also do not have the minimum number of at least two emergency exits, and also crowd too many students into classrooms, they added.
Representatives from Taipei's education bureau and city fire department said that while the city conducts stringent safety checks during the legalization process, post-legalization inspections are up to cram schools. Schools must conduct annual checks, and schools will be given warnings or shut down if they are found in violation of regulations or of non-compliance with the checks, the officials said.
"Anything that involves the safety of human life demands immediate improvement," said the foundation's deputy secretary-general Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁).
Cram schools that find themselves in violation of safety regulations should immediately make improvements or close until improvements can be made, Cheng said.
The foundation also noted that it would be conducting a large-scale survey of cram schools in three weeks' time. After the completion of the inspections, the foundation will make a list of Taipei's top 10 fire safety offenders available to the public, Cheng said.
"Three weeks is more than enough time for [schools] to make changes to improve fire safety. If, after this period we still find cram schools that are still in violation of safety rules, then we will publicize a list of the offenders," Cheng said.
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