A group of students elected to the Ministry of Education’s curriculum guideline review committee yesterday held a rally in front of the ministry building in Taipei, calling for information relating to the controversial 2014 curriculum guideline revisions to be made public.
The ministry should publish the names of former committee members who approved the changes and release all the meeting minutes and voting results related to the decisionmaking process, the students said.
Twenty-one students elected to the committee last month signed a petition demanding that such information be made public.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The 2014 guidelines for literature and history curricula triggered widespread protests last year, with critics saying that the planned changes introduced “Sinocentric” content and downplayed the significance of the 228 Incident.
“After the new government was sworn in on May 20, it quickly dismissed former curriculum guideline review committee members. So why is it still reluctant to make the meeting minutes public?” said Hsiao Chu-chun (蕭竹均), who is scheduled to become a member of the committee at general assemblies later this month.
In response to media queries on what the students’ next move would be if the ministry published the roster and meeting minutes, Hsiao said he just hoped that the information would serve as a “caution” for future curriculum review meetings.
K-12 Education Administration division chief Tsai Meng-kai (蔡孟愷) said the ministry would assess whether it would be appropriate to disclose the information requested by the students.
Hsiao called on students to attend public hearings he and other committee members are planning across the nation to gather a diverse range of opinions on the review process for curriculum guidelines.
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