Hakka is likely to be incorporated into the Senior Civil Servant Examination starting next year, becoming the first ethnic language to be included in the testing of linguistic skills in the national examination program, the Minister of Examinations Tung Pao-cheng (董保城) has said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻), who is of Hakka descent, has repeatedly asked the Ministry of Examinations to add Hakka to the tests undertaken by hopeful civil servants. Government officials dealing with Hakka affairs must be fluent in Hakka, she added.
In response, Tung pledged that as early as next year, testing for Hakka proficiency could be included in part of the civil service examination.
Currently, the Senior Civil Servant Examination for “Hakka Affairs Administration” includes a test on Chinese literature, English proficiency and legal knowledge, as well as tests pertaining to administration law, public administration, sociology, public policy, Hakka history and culture and Hakka politics and economy.
With the planned addition of Hakka proficiency tests, one subject in the current “Hakka Affairs Administration” examination would have to be dropped, according to Tung, saying that it could either be Hakka history and culture, or Hakka politics and economy.
Officials have pointed out that four months advance notice is required for any changes to the Senior Civil Servant Examination and thus a decision on the matter would have to be made before February next year if a Hakka proficiency test was to be included in the exams set to be held next year.
Currently with the national examination system, it is only under the category of “News Administration” that examinees are required to be tested for either “Mandarin Broadcasting” and “Hoklo Broadcasting,” or “Mandarin Broadcasting” and “Hakka Broadcasting.”
However, neither Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) nor Hakka are considered official subjects to be tested.
Special examinations for Taiwanese Aboriginal people currently only involves Aboriginal history, Aboriginal regulations and policies and does not include testing in Aboriginal languages.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS