To address the lack of teachers at 948 schools in some of the nation’s more remote areas, the Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday proposed allowing remote schools to share teaching staff.
Department of Elementary Education Director-General Yang Chang-yu (楊昌裕) told reporters in Hsinchu that schools in remote areas could cooperate with one or two neighboring schools and apply to jointly hire and share the professional teaching staff they need.
Local governments could also organize “mobile teaching groups” and arrange “teaching tours” to schools in remote areas, Yang said.
The ministry would then grant transportation stipends to these teachers, he said.
Citing research conducted in 2007 by Sharon Chen (甄曉蘭), a professor at the Department of Education of National Taiwan Normal University, Yang said about 35 percent of the teachers at the nation’s 209 remote junior high schools were forced to teach at least one subject in which they were not trained.
About 22 percent of the teachers were forced to teach two subjects unrelated to their professional training, Yang said.
Only about 33 percent of the teachers did not have to teach subjects beyond their expertise, Yang said.
“We plan to negotiate the proposal with local governments in April or May,” Yang said, adding that the ministry hoped to implement the policy in the 2009 academic year.
If everything goes well, there will be an additional 3,400 teacher openings at the nation’s remote schools, he said, adding that applicants with a bachelor’s degree would receive a minimum monthly salary of NT$38,000.
The plan is expected to cost the government NT$2 billion in budget annually, he said.
“But we are still concerned how many schools would be interested in adopting our proposal,” he said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all