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.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
RSS