A nationwide inventory of sports equipment at elementary and junior high schools is to be carried out to support a Ministry of Education policy to provide school equipment for use by local residents, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said at the National Convention of Education Department Directors in Chiayi City yesterday.
The policy would be implemented in conjunction with the official establishment of the ministry of sports on Sept. 9, Cheng said.
The policy is a continuation of Cheng’s plans announced during last year’s National Convention of Education Department Directors, at which the directors of local government education departments nationwide signed a declaration to allow public use of school facilities.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The Sports Administration had at most two weeks to comply with his directives and complete a full inventory of all equipment and facilities that can be made available to the public at the nation’s 3,800 schools, Cheng said yesterday.
As an example, students during school hours and local residents after school finishes should have access to basketballs and volleyballs, he said.
The policy would help advance the government’s goal of promoting exercise among the public, he added.
In other matters, Cheng said that among the ministry’s policies is to foster a generation of students who are mindful of their cultural roots while maintaining an open worldview.
The ministry recognizes the importance of guiding teenagers and adolescents in the digital age toward better emotional management, he said.
The 2019 curriculum was built around social emotional learning (SEL) and highlights the ministry’s efforts to make school environments friendlier to facilitate understanding among educators of students’ emotional and psychological states, Cheng said.
Some local governments have enacted policies that also focus on the SEL concept, he said, adding that the involvement of schools, parents and the community is the most effective support schools can get.
The one-and-a-half-day convention included discussions about open schoolyards, bilingual education with a focus on practical applications, immersive education for native languages, the adoption of the SEL concept, digital learning and friendly school grounds.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS