Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday endorsed the controversial high-school curriculum guidelines at the weekly Cabinet meeting despite concerns expressed by local government officials.
With the Ministry of Education finalizing changes to the curriculum guidelines on history, civics, social studies, Chinese languages and geography earlier this week, officials from Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung made a last-ditch effort yesterday to have the policy reversed.
Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) briefed the Cabinet on the subject at the meeting, while Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得), Greater Tainan Deputy Mayor Hsu He-chun (許和均) and Greater Taichung Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) voiced their concerns, Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said.
“Since people are deeply divided over the new curriculum guidelines, which aim to promote the idea that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China in [high-school] textbooks, the Cabinet should not endorse them,” Cheng quoted Lee as saying at a press conference after the meeting.
Hsu questioned the professionalism of the members of the group invited by the ministry to decide on the curriculum guidelines and said that teachers in Greater Tainan have voiced grave reservations about the policy, Cheng said.
The Greater Taichung Government did not oppose the new guidelines, but Tsai said the ministry should seek better communication with local teachers who are at a loss as to which guidelines to follow, Cheng quoted him as saying.
Despite the opposition, Jiang threw his support behind the ministry, Cheng said.
Jiang praised the new guidelines, saying they would help bring education in line with historical facts, broaden students’ global view and incorporate the ideas enshrined in the nation’s Constitution into education, Cheng said.
The changes would see the era of Japan’s rule in Taiwan referred to as “Japanese colonial rule” and “China” as “mainland China” in textbooks, among other adjustments describing the connection between Taiwan and China before the founding of the Republic of China in 1912.
Other much-debated changes include the definition of self-determination as the right of people governed by colonial rulers as opposed to the right of people in general in the current guidelines, and removal of the White Terror era in a section dealing with human rights issues.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS