Just over 74 percent of child daycare centers inspected recently by the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) failed to meet the country's established safety requirements, officials said on Wednesday.
The inspection was carried out jointly by the CPC and the Ministry of the Interior's Children Bureau between May and June among 172 child daycare institutions around the country.
Consumer protection official Wang Teh-ming (王德明) said that a total of 128 of the institutions did not pass the evaluation, including 64 that failed in the area of building safety and management, 64 that failed in the area of fire safety and management, 72 that failed in the area of sanitary safety and management and 97 that failed in the area of administrative, teaching and caregiver management.
After these centers were ordered to make improvements within a required period of time, a second inspection found that 57 had failed to do so, Wang said.
Among the institutions failing in the category of fire safety and management, 36 had defects in their emergency escape facilities, Wang said, adding that food contamination was discovered in 21 institutions failing in the category of sanitary safety and management.
Chen Kun-huang (陳坤皇), chief secretary of the Children's Bureau, noted that more than 284,000 children require daycare services and that there are more than 4,200 child daycare institutions in the country.
Chen said the results of the government's annual evaluation of these institutions are available on the bureau's Web site, urging parents to check the results before sending their children to any of these institutions.
When selecting a daycare institution, parents should check whether the institution is licensed and whether it is over-enrolled, he said, noting that daycare institutions are required to provide one caregiver for every 15 children.
In addition, he called parents' attention to the fact that daycare institutions are not allowed to hire foreign teachers and that many institutions that tout their language programs provided by foreign teachers are illegal.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese