Language institutes doubling as daycare centers are breaking the law governing cram schools and could face punishments under the Management Rules on Taipei’s Short-term Cram Schools (台北短期補習班管理辦法), the Taipei City Department of Education official told a press conference yesterday.
The remarks came after the Chinese-language Next Magazine on Wednesday reported that a cram school in Taipei allegedly overstepped its purview by doubling as daycare center, which are subject to different regulations in terms of recruitment, fire safety and space, judging from parents sending their children to the institute in the morning and picking them up at about 5pm.
Department Chief Secretary Liao Wen-chin (廖文靜) said the department would tighten the regulations on cram schools and conduct inspections in accordance with management rules and the Early Childhood Education and Care Act (幼兒教育及照護法).
Liao said that cram schools doubling as daycare centers could incur a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 under the act and could be barred from accepting new students if they fail to make improvements within a given time period.
However, there is nothing the department can do if an offender corrects its mistakes each time it is found to be in breach of regulations, she added.
Only registered cram schools are allowed to recruit foreign teachers, Workforce Development Agency Cross-Border Workforce Management Division Deputy Director Wang Chih-ming (王志銘) said, adding that it would be illegal if an employer offered a job to a foreigner without first helping them apply for a work permit with the Ministry of Labor.
“Something has got to be wrong” if an employer is not helping the with the work permit, Wang said.
Wang said that foreigners willing to work as teachers first need to obtain a work permit from the Ministry of Labor and then obtain a work visa from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be able to legally work in Taiwan.
Foreign teachers are allowed to hold more than one job as long as each employer has obtained separate work permits for them and their working hours do not exceed 32 hours per week, he said.
Foreign teachers would not be deported as long as they remain employed and their work visas are valid, he said.
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