The Executive Yuan yesterday passed a draft amendment to the Statute Governing the Retirement of School Faculty and Staff (學校教職員退休條例), which seeks to bar retired public-school employees from receiving pensions if they are subsequently hired by government-funded institutions.
Retired public-school teachers and officials will be given a three-month grace period to consider taking a post at a government-funded agency, including those that have been constituted as public-sector juridicial persons, in which case they would be required to forfeit their pensions.
As there are rules in place preventing retired public servants from simultaneously receiving government-issued salaries and pensions, the rule would improve consistency in the standards governing public servants’ pensions if passed by the legislature, Ministry of Education Personnel Department Director Lee Ping-chou (李秉洲) said.
The proposal would only affect employees who retired from public institutions, including universities, Lee said.
Notably absent from the proposal are rules barring retired public-school teachers from taking up posts at private institutions, an issue that has drawn criticism over the potentially negative effect the move might have on the education sector.
Lee said the ministry would propose a draft amendment on the issue of pensions paid to retired teachers who work at private institutions after the Presidential Office’s Pension Reform Committee arrives at a consensus.
Lee said that the change would also deny pensions to former public-school workers who are convicted of a crime.
Currently, the ministry only suspends the pensions of public-school employees who are convicted.
In other education news, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) unveiled a plan to train security guards to ensure students’ safety on campus.
The ministry has drawn up a preliminary plan to hire 1,000 security guards per year through a five-stage training program, Pan said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it