The 10-year dispute over the issue of integrating kindergartens and nursery schools finally came to an end as the Cabinet yesterday declared that the 16,000 kindergartens and nursery schools will be integrated into the "Kindergartens and Nurseries" division and will be governed by the Ministry of Education.
The new policy, which is designed to combine the equational function of kindergartens with the child-care function of day-care centers is designed to solve the problem of multiple authorities and overlapping jurisdiction that has long been a bane of the nation's educational system.
In the past, even though kindergartens and nursery schools both accepted children between the age three and six, the two institutions' regulations regarding teachers, teaching resources and classroom setup have been different, as they were governed by to separate ministries. While kindergartens are currently under the education ministry's fold, nursery schools belong to Children's Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior.
Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (
According to education ministry, the 8,000 kindergartens and 8,000 nursery schools across the nation will be regulated by the same criteria. Teachers of the "Kindergartens and Nurseries" division will need to have a nursery teaching degree from teachers' college aimed at improving the quality of teaching.
In addition, the education ministry plans to amend the Supplementary and Continuing Education Law (補習及進修教育法) to ban bushibans (補習班) from taking children under the age of three. Children between ages of three and six should not attend bushibans for more than two hours a day and 10 hours a week, according to the education ministry's plan.
Parents and children's education groups welcomed the integration policy.
"Under this plan, children can receive both education and day care at one place," said Lin Wen-hu (
People in the so-called "supplementary education" industry, however, said that the regulations pose unnecessary constraints on them.
"It takes at least three hours a day, 15 hours a week for children from age three to six to learn from foreign language courses effectively at bushibans. It is part of a student's right to receive education outside of [government run] schools, and the education ministry should respect this right," said Lin Jin-rong (
The education ministry will hold a public hearing and invite concerned people from the industry to discuss the issue today.
The new policy and the amendment of the law will be put into effect next year.
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