News reports have said that the Ministry of Education is encouraging more teachers to work in senior high and vocational high schools in remote areas after the 12-Year Basic Education Curriculum Guidelines were officially implemented on Aug. 1. However, the shortage of teachers is an even more severe problem in remote elementary schools.
Every summer vacation, schools in remote areas have to compete with each other in trying to recruit new teachers, but are often unable to do so. The shortage infringes on the right to education for students living in these areas and borders on a national security issue.
Following are several suggestions on how to address the problem:
First, the government should promptly and effectively implement the Act for Education Development of Schools in Remote Areas (偏遠地區學校教育發展條例) and offer concrete rewards to teachers for long-term service.
The act, which was enacted two years ago, stipulates rewards to encourage long-term service and raising regional subsidies, but to no avail. For instance, the remote school at which I work does not provide regional subsidies, and some teachers who drive to school have to spend nearly NT$10,000 per month on gasoline.
As a result, teachers and other staff often apply for a transfer as soon as they reach the required length of service.
The ministry should start counting long-term service from the 2018-2019 school year; otherwise, most teachers will not stay for eight years, and the well-intended reward will not serve any function.
Second, the ministry should set up special programs to train teachers for remote schools and restore the transportation service for students from Aboriginal communities and outlying islands.
While offering long-term service rewards might help keep teachers in remote schools, the solution is to train local talent to participate in fundamental national education.
Such a service existed before teachers’ colleges became normal universities. Many of my classmates chose to stay and teach in their own Aboriginal communities after graduation, eventually becoming pillars of local community development.
Employing local teachers to educate the next generation is the only way to preserve a community’s culture and promote sustainable development.
Furthermore, the central government should subsidize local governments to pay for substitute teachers’ annual salaries to secure teachers in remote areas.
Substitute teachers are awarded 10-month contracts, but if the ministry integrated its financial resources with the Council of Indigenous Peoples, the Hakka Affairs Council and other agencies to supplement these teachers’ salaries for the two unpaid months during summer vacation, as well as provide travel allowances for teachers from places other than these remote areas or outlying islands so that they can return home four times a year, teachers would be encouraged to stay and the problem of staff leaving would be alleviated.
In addition, schools should improve the dormitory accommodation for single staff. This year, the school where I work was granted a subsidy for the renovation of single dormitories, and security surveillance systems were installed, resulting in a slight increase in the number of faculty living in school.
It is clear that an assuring, safe and comfortable living environment can help dispel employee concerns.
Finally, parents should adjust their mindsets, and support and encourage their offspring to work in remote schools. Parents are often the ones who are most nervous about their children working far from home.
On one occasion, a new graduate applied for a position as a substitute teacher at my school, but did not show up for the qualification exams.
The school called up the applicant, whose parent answered the call. They had apparently driven all the way from Tainan to Taitung County, but turned back after reaching Dawu Township (大武), because the parent became worried about the daughter having to travel up the mountain.
Another parent could not stop worrying about their child, who was to work as a substitute teacher in the mountainous South Link Highway area, because Formosan black bears are often spotted there. The child gave up the job even after passing the exam, and the school failed to recruit new teachers.
Although there is a clear rural-urban divide, the standards of living have improved thanks to online shopping and better transportation. Working in remote areas, teachers and other faculty staff can also live a pure and simple life.
So-called “stray teachers” — people who are qualified to teach, but are not employed in permanent teaching posts — keep calling on the government to pay attention to their difficult situation, but their parents should let go of their offspring, and encourage these young teachers to devote themselves to education in remote areas and to live independently.
After all, serving students in remote areas is a virtuous act, and one good turn deserves another, as the saying goes.
As the new national education curriculum has just been implemented, the ministry should come up with a plan to solve the problem of teacher shortages in remote schools, where very few people are willing to teach, before asking these schools to hire well-qualified teachers who can design diverse classes in accordance with the new curriculum guidelines.
Huang Kuo-chiang is the principal of Taiyuan Elementary School in Taitung County’s Donghe Township.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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