Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said that the tri-city high school entrance exams, which are used in partnership with New Taipei City (新北市) and Keelung, would continue next year, but promised to examine problems with the application process amid mounting complaints about the new exam mechanism.
The first tri-city entrance exams were held in May as part of the three city governments’ single-textbook policy aimed at easing students’ academic burden. However, some students have complained about the high-school application process after they failed to get into their target schools.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said students who wrote the exam this year were like “lab rats,” because there were no other scores that they could use as a comparison when applying for admission.
As a result, many students miscalculated the admission thresholds for the schools of their choice and failed to get in, Lin said.
Both KMT and Democratic Progressive Party city councilors have called on the Hau administration to evaluate the exam mechanism and apologize to test-takers. They also urged the mayor to present a report on the issue at the city council.
However, Hau said the exams would continue to be held next year.
“It’s not a policy mistake and there are no problems with the exam itself. The application process was flawed and we will evaluate the process and improve it next year,” he said.
The city’s Department of Education will elaborate on the matter this week, he added.
Standardizing middle school textbooks was one of Hau’s major campaign promises, along with attracting more students to the city’s junior high schools through a combined exam.
In response to some councilors’ calls for him to present a report on the issue, Hau said he would respect the decision of the council.
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