The National Association of Parents Organization (NAPO) yesterday urged the Executive Yuan to launch a mechanism to communicate directly with civic groups to better understand public expectations for educational reform.
In an open letter to Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), the organization accused the Executive Yuan of giving orders from “high above,” while Executive Yuan officials may not necessarily understand the “real situation” in the nation’s education system. It added that direct dialogue would help Cabinet officials with policymaking.
It also said a number of “controversies” showed that the Ministry of Education could no longer decide the nation’s educational policy on its own because the Executive Yuan tended to step in.
The organization was referring to a recent controversy in which the ministry was accused of backtracking on a verbal promise by Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) in March to grant tuition subsidies to all students at private high schools, vocational high schools and junior colleges.
Earlier this month, the ministry presented a draft proposal offering subsidies to families whose annual income does not exceed NT$600,000 this fall and raising that threshold to NT$900,000 for the next school year, with the Cabinet then changing the policy to provide subsidies to students of families whose average annual income does not exceed NT$900,000, starting this fall.
In March last year, former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) made a pledge during a question-and-answer session at the legislature to provide such lunchboxes, but it was later revealed that the ministry had not been informed of the policy before Liu’s announcement.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard