Student groups yesterday said the Ministry of Education had failed to meaningfully respond to their demands for the withdrawal of proposed curriculum changes, threatening further protests if they receive no response by Friday.
“While the ministry has put on the appearance of opening up textbook selection, in reality, books have already been chosen,” Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance convener Chu Chen (朱震) said.
Chu, a student at Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, said the ministry waited until last month to announce that schools were permitted to continue using old textbooks because most schools had already finalized textbook selections for the upcoming school year.
Photo: Hung Ting-hung, Taipei Times
Amid controversy over what critics describe as “China-centric” adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines, the groups have called for schools to continue using older textbooks based on previous guidelines.
Because the ministry defined the adjustments as “minor,” printing licenses for preadjustment textbooks remain valid.
Chu said that the ministry’s decision to allow the use of older textbooks was insufficient because printing licenses for such texts expire within three years, ensuring that schools would be forced to adopt new textbooks.
The ministry’s announcement of plans to allow wider participation in drafting curricula was vague, because it was unclear who would be included and what “supplementary measures” would be adopted to incorporate their views, he said.
Alliance spokesman Dai Lin (林冠華) reiterated demands that the adjusted curriculum guidelines be withdrawn immediately and replaced with more diverse and neutral guidelines approved through an “open and transparent process.”
Lin said protest activities would be escalated if the ministry fails to “meaningfully respond” to student demands by Friday.
The groups called on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presumptive presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and a number of legislators to make public their positions on the guideline changes.
The groups said that they had received funding from the DPP to purchase several umbrellas for a protest outside the ministry on Sunday, but added that most of their funding had come from donations collected at the protest itself, promising to soon make public the sources of their funding.
Further measures to protest against the curriculum changes include issuing calls for international support on social media, they said.
Netizens are invited to upload pictures of themselves holding up signs saying: “I want the facts” with the hashtag #savethehistory.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS