As part of a project to improve after-school care for children and teenagers, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday called on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to work with the ministry to build a community-based network.
“Because of changes in social and family structures, we’ve noticed increasing numbers of families with a single parent or foreign spouse. There are more families suffering financial difficulties and it is increasingly common for children to be raised by grandparents,” said Huang Chen-jung (黃貞容), an official at the ministry’s Children’s Bureau.
“To lift some childcare pressure off these families and to prevent them from being marginalized, we’ve launched a project to build a community-based childcare network with government resources,” she said.
Huang said the ministry had asked for help from NGOs because the recession had affected its budget.
“We will need about 80 NGOs to work with us to create more centers for youngsters across the country and to strengthen the social security network,” she said, adding that the project would include after-school childcare and education, psychological counseling and group activities.
Children’s Welfare League Foundation executive director Alicia Wang (王育敏) welcomed the project but urged the ministry to pay more attention to health issues for children in disadvantaged families.
“Children from disadvantaged families often need some help with schoolwork, since their parents cannot afford to send them to cram schools or tutorial centers,” Wang said. “However, they also need help with medical provision.”
Wang pointed out that many parents in disadvantaged families cannot afford to pay for any health insurance — including the National Health Insurance — so are often reluctant to take their children to see doctors.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner