A proposed amendment to the Supplementary Education Act (補習及進修教育法) to ban cram-school teachers from using “professional” names and require foreigners to provide documents issued by their home nations showing good conduct passed its third reading at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
The amendment was proposed in the wake of the death of author Lin Yi-han (林奕含), who committed suicide late last month, reportedly because of trauma after she was allegedly raped by cram-school teacher Chen Kuo-hsing (陳國星) when she was 17.
The amendment stipulates that all private institutes must display the real names of all their teachers and employees on contracts and all advertisements.
Registered cram schools that are named after their owners who teach there will not have to change their names, but the owners must also use their real names in advertisements, the amendment said.
Institutes seeking to hire foreign teachers must provide criminal records of their prospective employees to government agencies, it said.
Cram schools that fail to report cases of sexual harassment or assault; fail to submit rosters of their employees to local education authorities; or engage in dishonest advertising face a fine of between NT$50,000 and NT$250,000, and could be subjected to repeated fines if they do not make improvements within a given time frame, it said.
“Teachers who sexually harass or rape students are a disgrace to institutes and inflict trauma on parents,” said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), convener of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
The amendment was passed to meet society’s expectations on providing students with a safe learning environment and to deter cram-school employees from misconduct, she said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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