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Ministry of Education unveils plan to help disadvantaged schoolchildren

Children from one of five designated "disadvantaged" backgrounds could get a free ride through preschool and kindergarten starting in September, education ministry officials said yesterday.

Speaking to lawmakers in the legislature's Education and Culture Committee, Pan Wen-chuang (潘文忠), director of the education ministry's department of elementary education, unveiled a plan to exempt low to middle-income families, as well as other "disadvantaged households," from paying tuition for children at the preschool and kindergarten level.

The plan, he said, is part of the education ministry's "early education" policy, and would benefit not only financially disadvantaged families, but also Aboriginal families, families with developmentally delayed children and single-parent families.

The ministry said the plan would "allow children who are disadvantaged in economic, cultural, developmental, ethnic or geographic terms" to enjoy an education on a par with more privileged children. The ministry didn't elaborate on the terms of the five backrounds.

Since no official documents exist identifying families in hardship, Pan said families wanting to benefit from the plan must report to their respective local government's education bureau in the next week to demonstrate their disadvantaged circumstances.

Applying before Saturday was mandatory to enjoy tuition breaks for children entering preschool or kindergarten this year, the ministry said, adding that education bureaus would inform interested parents of the material they must provide during the application process.

Eligible children will also be short-listed for the best public schools in their areas, Pan added.

Officials also announced that more school loans would be made available to students in public and private institutions at all education levels.

The loans would be more generous than in previous years and would boast lower interest rates, said the ministry. The loans are to benefit students from low-income families and could be conferred without collateral, it said.
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