A group of teachers from across the country yesterday began a hunger strike outside the Ministry of Education building in Taipei, accusing the ministry of having political motivations behind its recent adjustment of curriculum guidelines.
“We are gathered here today [yesterday], because Feb. 28 is a symbolic day. It’s a day that is marked with the quest for social justice and civil liberties for Taiwanese,” said Wang Hsi (王希), spokesman of the Alliance of Awakened Citizens, which joined the teachers in their action.
“Injustice still exists today, such as the government’s political intervention in the new education curriculum, and we’re glad that a group of teachers are here, telling the government that they will not accept this,” he said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The recently announced curriculum guidelines have been described by many academics and teachers as changing the current Taiwan-oriented approach to history into a Sinocentric approach, as well as finding excuses for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) authoritarian rule in civics education.
“A committee within the ministry began talking about curriculum change in December, and finalized the plan and the curriculum guidelines by January, without even asking academics who are opposed to it for their opinions,” said Nieh Sung-ling (聶松齡), a civics teacher from Kaohsiung Municipal Wenshan Senior High School.
“The ministry claims that the committee members have fully discussed all opinions, but how is that possible? If, as the ministry says, it consulted teachers during the process, can it give us just 10 names of the teachers they consulted?” Nieh asked.
Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Land Economics, said that many Cabinet members have stepped down recently, but Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) should also have resigned.
“Taiwan is a nation of immigrants, people moved here at different times and so it is natural that different groups may have different views on history,” Hsu said. “As a democracy, we should try to respect people instead of trying to wipe out all other views with a ‘Greater China’ ideology.”
A civics teacher from National Tainan Girls’ High School, Yang Su-fang (楊素芳), who was among the people in the hunger strike, showed a copy of the new curriculum released by the ministry and compared it with the current one.
“Currently, the textbook is critical to the government’s rule from the late 1940s to the 1980s, calling it the ‘White Terror Period,” Yang said. “But in the new one, it would be explained as a necessary evil, that the authoritarian rule was something the government did not want to carry out at the time, but was obliged to.”
Yang added that this is not what civics education should do, “because the purpose of civics education is teaching students about the values of human rights, not finding excuses for human rights violations.”
“We civics teachers standing up to injustice is also part of that education,” Yang said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
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
RSS