Taipei City Councilor Wang Hao (王浩) yesterday singled out many of the city's bushibans (補習班), or cram schools, for operating illegally, including some household names such as Hess, Kid Castle, Jordan's and Sesame Street, calling on parents to determine the legal status of a bushiban before enrolling their child.
Wang made the call at a press conference yesterday after conducting a private investigation into the Hess Language School (
Wang's investigation, originally intended to solve a dispute between two families whose children had been fighting at school, found that the Hess branch has been operating without a license for over a year.However, as Wang learned, the school is only one of 87 such cram schools operating without the Taipei City Government's authorization, according to official data provided by the city's Bureau of Education (BOE,
Twenty-eight of the offending schools are children's language cram schools and include popular names such as Kid Castle (
Also on the the list is the Education and Training Center of the British Trade and Cultural Office (
Wang blamed the excessive number of unauthorized institutions on the BOE's failure to supervise the schools.
"In this case, the BOE has known that Hess has no authorization, but it hasn't issued any fines, claiming they lack the manpower [to do so]," he said.
Wang called on the city's illegal bushibans to register as soon as possible or face fines and closure.
According to the Unauthorized Bushiban Uniform Fining Standard (
For institutions failing to register, a fine ranging between NT$50,000 and NT$250,000 will be imposed, depending on the size of the facility.
Wang told the Taipei Times that the BOE has not gotten tough on Hess because the school's administration has connections with political heavyweights.
"I know at least two city councilors and one lawmaker are very `friendly' with the proprietor," he said.
But Chang Cheng-chung (
"It's ridiculous," Chang said, adding that the bureau has issued no further tickets to Hess since a first warning was issued on Aug. 10 because they customarily give offenders a one to two-month grace period.
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