The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday again called for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to abolish its adjustment to the high-school curriculum and disclose the process of how the adjustment was made, as well as the complete list of members of the task force.
The party was referring to the ministry’s plan to revise the nation’s high-school curriculum. When the revisions are implemented in September next year at the beginning of the academic year, among the major changes will be the addition of the word “mainland” in references to China in Chinese-language history textbooks and the 50-year period of Japanese rule over Taiwan would be referred to as “Japanese colonial rule.”
The DPP said that it passed a resolution on Wednesday that the six DPP-governed cities and counties — Greater Kaohsiung, Greater Tainan, Yilan County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County and Pingtung County — would boycott the revised curriculum.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Citing the “massive rather than slight” changes as attempting to do away with Taiwanese identity, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a press conference that the ministry’s policy is “simply unacceptable.”
The party would collaborate with civic groups and academics to protest the revisions and pressure the ministry in the upcoming legislative session if it does not rescind the changes, Lin added.
Lin also cited the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) when saying that the ministry had conducted the “hasty” review in secret and that it is legally bound to disclose the decisionmaking process of policy changes to the public.
Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) said the adjustment was proposed less than two years after the implementation of the current curriculum, four years shorter than the legally regulated implementation period of six years, and that it “betrays Taiwan-centered historical perspective and objective facts.”
Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) urged the government to seek a consensus on the changes.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) demanded that the ministry halt the policy, saying that the curriculum adjustment “has been more of a ‘de-Japanization’ and ‘de-Taiwanization’ than anything else.”
Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) does not respect Taiwan’s history, Chen told a press conference, adding that if Chiang wanted de-Taiwanization, he “might as well be China’s education minister.”
Additional reporting by CNA
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
RSS