The Council of Indigenous Peoples said it has passed an initiative to help preserve the nation’s Aboriginal languages through further financial incentives, hoping to rear Aboriginal children in environments where they can hear their languages being spoken from birth.
Starting from October this year, the council will give an additional subsidy of NT$3,000 (US$100) for every Aborigine who becomes the caretaker of one child, ranging from newborn to two years old, and who has obtained caretaker qualifications, received a certificate in Aboriginal languages, or attended and passed 126 hours of caretaker classes.
The council added that it would also subsidize every family who hire such caretakers with NT$2,000 per month.
The Ministry of the Interior already subsidizes qualified caretakers with NT$3,000 per month.
According to the council, the funding for the initiative — totaling NT$20 million — is to come from Public Welfare Lottery rebates, and it will be able to subsidize up to 260 caretakers and 700 families.
The head of the council’s Education and Cultural Affairs section, Chen Kun-sheng (陳坤昇), said yesterday that the current regulations, under which children only start learning their Aboriginal tongues when they are in elementary school, have a very limited effect, hence the council’s initiative to start the learning process from the cradle.
Both caretakers and families who hire caretakers can apply for the subsidies at their local city hall, or the county or township offices where their residences are registered, after which the council will hire an Aboriginal elder well versed in the applicable language to interview a caretaker candidate, he said.
The council will also hire 30 additional staff members to make house calls and ensure that the caretaker is interacting with the child using the appropriate Aboriginal language, Chen said.
He added that a caretaker working for a family of the Paiwan tribe, for example, should be teaching an infant to use kama instead of the Mandarin baba (爸爸, father), and vuvu instead of the Mandarin words for grandfather and grandmother.
Caretakers who look after three infants are entitled to NT$18,000 in government subsidies per month and together with caretaking fees paid by the parents, a caretaker can have a monthly income of NT$50,000, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the council said it would hire a further 30 Aboriginal language assistant teachers. These positions are open to any person who is an Aborigine, has taken classes in a department of early childhood educare after high school, or has graduated with a diploma from such a department.
The council is to start accepting applications in November and its examinations are to be held in January next year, Chen said, adding that assistant teachers who qualify would be sent to Aboriginal-language daycare centers in counties and cities with large Aborigine populations.
The council would also send its assistant teachers to regions based on tribe population ratios, the reason being that some tribes had very few children in kindergartens, he said.
For instance, the Thao tribe currently has only one child between three and six years old that is studying at an Aboriginal-language kindergarten, Chen said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS