Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday announced a personnel reshuffle in the city’s education sector, replacing Department of Education Commissioner Ding Ya-wen (丁亞雯) with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華).
Ding, 66, said she had tendered her resignation on several occasions since June due to family issues, and said she would continue giving advice on education issues.
“I am thankful to have been part of the Hau team over the past two years, and I am glad that Councilor Lin will take over my post. She is familiar with education issues and will continue implementing education policies,” she said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.
Hau, in announcing the reshuffle, thanked Ding for her dedication as the head of the education department, and said Lin, who has been in the council’s education committee, will focus her efforts to prepare for the launch of the 12-year education program next year.
Lin, 44, has served as city councilor for 15 years. Her father, Lin Chao-hsian (林昭賢), served as deputy minister of education and commissioner of the city’s education department.
Ding’s resignation came as a surprise, as she had been a preferred Hau official despite her problematic relations with the city council and the press.
A piece in the Chinese-language newspaper the China Times on Wednesday lashed out at Ding for failing to attend the annual ceremony marking Confucius’ birth in Taipei.
However, the mayor insisted that family issues were the only reasons behind Ding’s resignation and said the city’s education policies would not be affected by the personnel reshuffle.
She was the fourth education commissioner under Hau since 2006.
Meanwhile, Hau also announced that Department of Finance acting commissioner Chen Ying-rong (陳盈蓉) will take over as commissioner in the wake of Chiu Da-chan’s (邱大展) resignation.
Chiu resigned in August over his alleged involvement in bribery scandals in the Taipei Twin Towers project.
He was indicted earlier this month on charges of leaking information to the project’s first-priority bidder and helping the company win the bid.
Chen said the scandal has affected the department’s momentum, but promised to spare no effort in promoting city policies.
The reshuffle will take effect on Tuesday next week.
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