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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
RSS