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.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
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The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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