The Ministry of Education recently released a report that said children of foreign spouses performed better than those whose parents were both born in Taiwan in many subjects in elementary school, but were falling behind in junior high.
The report was based on a survey conducted by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) targeting children of "new immigrants" from both China and Southeast Asia in more than 3,000 schools nationwide and compares their performance in various subjects with other Taiwanese students.
The report found that in elementary school, these children had an A-average like most other Taiwanese students, but exceeded them in subjects such as math and physical education.
PHOTO: WANG CHUN-CHUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
But as these children entered junior high school, their math scores dropped an average of 20 to 30 points, the report said.
Also, their Taiwan-related history and geography scores were found to be especially low.
Another report released late last year by the ministry yielded slightly different results. 8.2 percent of new immigrants' children were behind in language and speech development when they first enter school, it said.
However this report showed that at school, these students improved and performed well in subjects such as languages.
In subjects such as math, history and geography, their scores dropped as their age increased, the report said.
The research, carried out by National Chi Nan University, targeted only 281 elementary school children of Southeast Asian spouses but not Chinese spouses.
Pan Wen-chung (
"The children of foreign spouses learn in the same environment as all other Taiwanese children," he said.
"We shouldn't be biased against them and say that they are always behind in schoolwork," Pan said.
Each child, regardless of nationality or background, is stronger in certain subjects and has problems with others, Pan said.
"These surveys and reports do not determine how poorly these children perform in school, but aim to help the ministry see where we may need to help them most," he said.
Wen Ming-li (
According to ministry figures, as of last year, more than 60,000 new-immigrant children were enrolled in elementary and junior high schools in the country, twice the number of two years ago.
These children will likely surpass the amount of Aboriginal students this August when the new school year starts, becoming the largest group receiving subsidies from the ministry for elementary and secondary education, officials said.
Last year, one out of every 16 children enrolling in elementary school for the first time were children of foreign spouses, but the ministry speculates that in two years time the figure will rise to one in eight.
Most of these students are children of Chinese spouses, followed by children of Indonesian and Vietnamese spouses.
Pan said that the education ministry has provided opportunities for these children to participate in after-school programs which aim to help them with schoolwork.
However, these classes are not solely aimed at the children of new immigrants, but are intended for any student who requires assistance with their schoolwork, Pan said.
"We don't want to single out children of foreign spouses," he said. "They should be treated without biases."
The ministry has also published books on a variety of cultures to help these children to understand more about their mother or father's foreign culture, and for other Taiwanese students to understand these classmates, Pan said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods