Education groups yesterday expressed concern over new curriculum guidelines scheduled to take effect in August after deputy education ministers Yao Leeh-ter (姚立德) and Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) resigned.
Yao served as acting education minister three times between April last year and earlier this month, following the resignation of former education ministers Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠), Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) and Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) — the first time anyone has been an acting education minister three times within nine months.
He is reportedly planning to return to teaching at National Taipei University of Technology.
Photo: Rachel Lin , Taipei Times
Fan served as deputy education minister for a little more than three months after taking office in September last year.
New Cabinet members are to be sworn in today and the ministry has planned a farewell party for Yao and Fan in the afternoon.
Yao was responsible for overseeing higher education and vocational schools, while Fan handled compulsory education.
Their departure would require others to take over their work at the ministry.
Among high-level officials, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) is the only one to have overseen compulsory education, as he has served as deputy commissioner of the Taipei’s Department of Education and as the commissioner of the New Taipei City Department of Education.
He has also served as the director of the ministry’s Department of Technological and Vocational Education.
Although K12 Education Administration Director-General Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) has served as the commissioner of the Taichung Department of Education, he is less familiar with the new curriculum guidelines and was not appointed director-general until Dec. 24.
The National Academy for Educational Research, which manages affairs related to curriculum guidelines, has been without a formal president since July last year, with its vice president, Kung-Bin Kuo (郭工賓), doubling as its acting president.
“Compared with the other ministries, the Ministry of Education [MOE] is the least stable one, having had three ministers in one year,” National Parent Education Volunteer Association director-general Wu Fu-pin (吳褔濱) said.
The new curriculum guidelines are an important policy, yet there would be no senior official familiar with them to help the new minister with their implementation, he said, adding that the situation is “deeply worrying.”
To ensure a smooth transition for schools and students, Wu urged the government to abandon its practice of appointing officials from its inner circle and look for talent to fill in the positions left by Yao and Fan.
Separately, Shih Chien University president Michael Chen (陳振貴) on Saturday said the new education minister would face a series of challenges when implementing the new curriculum guidelines.
The ministry must also deal with the transformation of private universities and colleges, as a steep decline in enrollments is expected next year due to the nation’s dwindling birthrate, he added.
Legislation would be needed to provide the legal basis for schools undergoing transformation to prevent problems, Chen said.
The ministry must work on boosting universities’ global competitiveness, he said, adding that it should increase schools’ research funding to improve their ranking and help them train more talent.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan
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