High school students will be required to enroll in new sex education courses starting next year, if a new "civil society" curriculum plan is approved by the Ministry of Education, a ministry official said yesterday.
"Young people need to foster correct attitudes regarding interaction with the opposite sex," said Chen Yi-hsing (陳益興), the ministry's secondary education director.
Calling the proposed curriculum "courses on gender relations," Chen said such issues as romance, break-ups and pregnancy -- increasingly common themes in adolescents' lives -- would be covered by the classes.
"When should students think about having a boyfriend or girlfriend? How should they prevent or deal with unwanted pregnancies? How should they view their own sexual development?" Chen said.
"These are the kinds of questions that would be addressed," Chen said.
Although the last civil society curriculum plan, implemented since last year, contains sex education classes, gender relations courses are receiving more attention in the upcoming plan because of "legal considerations" and the need to foster "healthier relations" between the sexes, Chen said.
By teaching high school students to "respect" the opposite sex, he said, human rights legislation, such as the Gender Equality Law (性別平等法), would be better served.
Last month, the ministry cited that law in submitting a bill to the legislature that, if passed, would grant pregnant teens maternity leave from school. Taiwan has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Asia.
"Gender relations classes would help students avoid pregnancy, or at least know how to deal with it," Chen said.
"We're not encouraging them to engage in sexual activity or get pregnant," he added. "We're arming students with the knowledge they need to successfully interact with the opposite sex."
The plan is "a work in progress" until the ministry's Curriculum Development Committee finalizes it before the next academic year, Chen said.
Pan-blue lawmakers, however, slammed the ministry yesterday for seeking to designate "love classes" as "requisite curriculum."
"Schools should not force students to take such classes; they could push students to taste the forbidden fruit," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kuo Su-chun (
Teachers lack the expertise and experience to effectively teach such material, she added, while KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (
Responding to criticism yesterday, Chen said gender relations courses are "merely a small part of the proposed plan."
The controversial classes are under the "civil society" plan because they deal with personal development and becoming a good citizen, he added.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
RSS