An opposition legislator yesterday joined hands with a local teachers' association in urging the Ministry of Education to offer better working conditions for the country's elementary and junior high school teachers.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
The president of the Taipei Teachers' Association, Ke Wen-xian (
He said teachers at the two compulsory levels do not get compensated for working overtime, unlike high school teachers.
Teachers at primary and junior high schools are only paid NT$260 and NT$360 per session while high school teachers are paid NT$400 per class, Ke said at a joint press conference with Hung.
According to Ke, every elementary school teacher is responsible for an average of 18 students, while every high school teacher only has to take care of 16.
Primary and junior high school teachers usually have to do administrative work in addition to their teaching duties, while high schools hire full-time school administrators, he added.
Taipei Municipal University of Education professor Wu Ching-shan (
The ministry's Department of Elementary Education Deputy Director Yang Chang-yu (楊昌裕) said that the ministry had proposed reducing elementary and junior high school class sizes from 35 to 29 pupils by 2011.
He added that the ministry may tax primary and junior high school teachers and use the revenues to hire more contract administrators and counselors so that teachers do not have to fill the positions.
In response, Peng said: "If the government would like to solve the problem by taxing teachers, I'm afraid that the problem will never be resolved."
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