Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) on Thursday slammed school principals for commending students who won prizes in an essay contest in China, saying that the educators lacked awareness of “who the enemy is.”
The contest, held by the Pingtan County Government in China’s Fujian Province, awarded 15 Taiwanese students for their essays.
It had received more than 300 submissions from Taiwan for the contest organized to “guide the compatriots across the Taiwan Strait toward inheriting the superior culture of China and to maintain the compatriot-love of the bloodline,” the event organizer said.
Photo courtesy of Chi-Mei Junior High School
Some principals of award-winning students commended them with school honors, including putting them on honor rolls.
Kuo said that the principals were apparently incapable of understanding that China is a hostile foreign state.
The incident showed that Taiwan’s basic educational institutions are compromised, he said.
“The negligence of the school officials allowed Beijing to turn the children into instruments of political warfare,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Education should review teaching materials and activities of public schools.
In response, some of the school principals yesterday said they were unaware that their students won in a contest that promotes unification.
Penghu County Chi-Mei Junior High School principal Chen Kuan-chuan (陳冠全) said that the school had encouraged students to enter the contest, besause it thought it was an unpolitical event.
“In the future, we will look at the content and details of an event with more care,” he said.
Huang Ming-kuang (黃銘廣), the principal of Makung Junior High School in Penghu, said that a teacher at the school had encouraged the student to take part in the contest without the school’s knowledge.
“We were unaware that one of our students received a prize until the results were announced,” Huang said. “We understand the sensitivity of cross-strait issues and did not publicly commend the student.”
New Taipei City Anhe Elementary School principal Liao Wen-chih (廖文志) said his school did not tell students to participate in the contest and that the event was about character, not cross-strait politics.
The school will exercise more care when students take part in events held in China, he said.
New Taipei City’s Wende Elementary School principal Lee Hui-mei (李慧美) said that she commended the students to encourage participation in academic events and “adults should not bring their problems into education.”
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