Two student-rights advocates returned to the main site of protests over high-school curriculum guideline changes yesterday, completing a national walking tour to highlight the issue.
Hsu Kuan-tse (許冠澤) and Chou Tzu-hsiang (周子翔) led a parade of students and rights advocates in front of the Ministry of Education building for the final leg of the tour, shouting: “Reject black box procedures”; “Oppose brain-washing education”; and “Students are not idiots” as they marched in pouring rain to the ministry gates.
“I have already given up on ministry officials — no matter what you say, they do not listen,” Hsu said. “Eventually, when we grow up, we will take over [their] positions and do a better job.”
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
Hsu said that while he had kept his word, finishing a nationwide walk, Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) had broken his promise to publicize the names of members of the committee that approved controversial “fine-tuning” of social studies guidelines.
At an Aug. 3 meeting with student leaders, Wu said he would publicize the names within 10 days, if the committee members gave their consent.
Hsu last week attempted to meet Wu at a summer school promotional event Wu was to attend at an elementary school in Jian Township (吉安) in Hualien, but Wu canceled his participation after hearing that student-rights advocates would be there.
Photo: Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Chou said that after completing the tour he feels like he has “fully experienced life’s hardships,” adding that he plans to focus on promoting student activism in schools and prepare for college entrance exams next year.
The pair began their tour from the ministry’s gate on July 23, walking an average of 10 to 14 hours a day, covering 1,100km, they said, adding that they presented petitions to city and county governments to oppose the guidelines.
According to media reports, they were followed by police throughout their tour, during which they staged protests, including the disruption of a ceremony for National Kaohsiung Normal University president Wu Lien-shang (吳連賞), who was reportedly on the committee that approved the guidelines.
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Huang’s body was found just outside the bathroom and showed no signs of a struggle, and no alcohol or drugs were found Singer and actor Alien Huang (黃鴻升) was found dead at his home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday. He was 36. Huang was also known by the nickname Xiao Gui (“little ghost”). His body was found when his father went to check on him after being unable to reach him by telephone, and called emergency services to the house at 11am, the Taipei City Police Department said. Huang’s body, which was discovered just outside the bathroom, showed no signs of a physical struggle, and he appeared to have been dead for some time, police said, adding that no drugs or alcohol were
CONFIRMED IN PHILIPPINES: The CECC would conduct contact tracing for the migrant workers to determine if they had come into contact with elderly people or children Six Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home from Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a case of imported COVID-19 infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 500. Philippine authorities reported four of the cases through the National IHR Focal Point, while the other two were reported by the company that they had worked for in Taiwan. The six — five women and one man — are aged from their 20s to 40s, and worked as in-home care workers, domestic workers, factory workers and sailors in Taiwan, said Minister of Health and
TIME FOR CHANGE: Most of those at a public hearing organized by the DPP’s Chung Chia-pin also agreed that the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished Taiwan needs a new constitution, as the current one was adopted in Nanjing in 1946, when the Republic of China (ROC) represented all of China, while the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished, legal experts and academics said yesterday during a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Chang Kun-sheng (張錕盛), a law professor and secretary-general of the Taiwan Administrative Law Association, said that it is time to draft a new constitution. The ROC Constitution was adopted during a National Constituent Assembly meeting in Nanjing shortly after World War II and before the Chinese Civil War had fully erupted,
The COVID-19 pandemic might not have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan, China, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. While many countries are experiencing second waves of COVID-19 infections, many are also lifting lockdowns to revive their economies, allowing travelers to cross national borders, Chen said. Academics have been questioning whether genetic mutations in the novel coronavirus in different countries have made it more infectious, he added. Academics from different backgrounds have conducted phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, he said, adding that the studies can help scientists understand how the virus spread among
RSS