Former Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls’ High School principal of Ding Ya-wen (丁亞雯) will take over as commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Education, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced yesterday.
Ding will replace Kang Tzong-huu (康宗虎), who tendered his resignation late last month to take responsibility for the controversy surrounding the tri-city high school entrance exam policy. Kang will officially step down after the new -admission exams are completed next week.
At yesterday’s announcement, Hau lauded Ding as a veteran educator with considerable experience in the field and said her experience in high schools would help her to address issues related to secondary education.
“Secondary education is crucial in municipal education, and Ms Ding’s rich experience as a high school principal should help us better promote education policies,” he said at Taipei City Hall.
Ding, 64, has also served as principal at Taipei First Girls’ High School and Zhongzheng Senior High School. She retired from Zhongshan Girls’ High School in 2006 and helped found the Lawrence S. Ting School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Ding yesterday declined to comment on the appointment and said she respected the city government’s decision.
The reshuffle of department heads came in the wake of the controversy surrounding the exam, which took place in May in Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市) and Keelung following the implementation of a single-textbook policy.
Kang, who was allegedly asked to take full responsibility for the problematic policy, tendered his resignation after the city government tried to end the dispute by opening up more than 2,000 vacancies for new admissions late last month.
Amid growing complaints about the problematic admissions and calls to cancel the exam next year, Hau yesterday again defended the exam and said the city’s plan to continue with its examination policy remained unchanged.
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