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.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai