The Ministry of Education said it would launch a consolidated ID card in Taipei City in September as part of an initiative to promote the increasingly popular concept of lifelong learning.
The public has embraced the concept that one is never too old to learn, but many people taking continuing education and other classes have complained about ending up with too many membership cards, as a separate one is needed for every course at community colleges, cram schools or other institutions, the ministry said.
Working in the initial stage with 13 community colleges in Taipei, the ministry decided to issue a single card for students at the participating institutions.
The new student card will contain a record of the user’s class history, as well as volunteer service hours.
The ministry also plans to use the card to offer incentives, such as tuition discounts or free coupons, to encourage people to take classes and do more volunteer work.
However, details of this aspect of the card plan are still under discussion.
The average rate of adults entering continuing education in Taiwan is 30.96 percent, but the ministry hopes the new policy will gradually boost the rate, with the aim of catching up with developed countries, where the rate is about 42 percent.
“If the results are promising, the mode and pattern will be reproduced and implemented nationwide, which is our ultimate goal,” Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) said on Monday.
Wu also said the ministry was trying to encourage more facilities and institutions to participate in the project.
The new card is likely to include other functions so it could be used as credit card, debit card or EasyCard, which can be used for payment on public transport services or at various retail outlets, the ministry said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS