A group of parents yesterday demonstrated outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, calling on presidential and legislative candidates to take a stance on the call to abolish the much-maligned high-school admission system and restoring the Basic Competence Test.
The year-old admission system is problematic and unfair, as students’ non-academic talents and skills can be taken into account — for example the ability to play a musical instrument or an athletic skill or physical fitness level — when a school whose recruitment level is nearing capacity must decide between students who achieved the same entrance exam score.
This rule places students from average and low-income families at a disadvantage because their families might not have the resources to finance extracurricular classes or sports activities.
A New Taipei City teacher surnamed Lee (李) said that after the system took effect last year, students who won awards in musical competitions or received good physical fitness grades were given extra points when applying to high schools.
Due to the shortage of licensed accreditation institutes, some parents drove their children across the nation just so they could get a certification, Lee said, adding that physical fitness certificates were often issued “superfluously.”
The system panders to wealthy families who are able to pay for expensive classes and teachers so that their children can learn to play an instrument or develop a talent, Lee said.
She also criticized the rules for students prioritizing the schools they would like to attend.
Students are asked to select groups of five schools and rank them according to their chances of being admitted; if a student fails to be admitted by any schools in a group, they are then demoted to the next group on their list, where they are judged against students with lower test scores, and one point is deducted from their own score, Lee said, adding that the whole process hurts a student’s chances of admission.
The Ministry of Education’s frequent changes to the rules has left parents panicking, she said, which meant they ended up bombarding teachers with queries when high-school entrance exam came around, she said.
Teachers end up acting like “fortune tellers” to students asking their advice on school prioritization, Lee said.
Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has promised to waive the entrance exam as part of its efforts to improve the 12-year national education system, many parents want the Basic Competence Test restored because they think is the fairest recruiting tool.
Lee urged DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to attend forums with teachers and parents to discuss education issues.
National Parents’ Alliance for 12-year Compulsory Education vice president Chen Chi-chen (陳綺貞) said she faxed surveys and made telephone calls to the campaign offices of legislative candidates nationwide last week, asking whether the candidate would back the appeals for change.
Only 13 candidates said they would, she said.
The low response rate had left her feeling disheartened, because it was far behind the response of Taipei city councilor candidates ahead of the nine-in-one elections in November last year.
Of the 37 Taipei city councilor candidates who responded to the survey, 34 were elected, Chen said.
She said legislative candidates should not to take education issues lightly, and promised to make another round of calls to campaign offices this week.
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