Student enrollment across all age levels last year fell by 273,000 compared with five years ago, although participation in experimental education grew by 50 percent, Ministry of Education (MOE) data showed.
The decline, which accounts for 6.4 percent fewer students compared with 2019, was likely due to Taiwan’s declining birthrate, the ministry said.
However, a record-high 27,000 students were enrolled in experimental education programs last year, it added.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The statistics also showed that the number of private kindergartens had decreased by 62 last year, while the number of public kindergartens increased by 20, resulting in a total of 6,657 kindergartens nationwide.
Overall, there were 273 more public kindergartens last year than in 2019.
This was due to continued expansion of public early childhood education services, which resulted in 460 public kindergartens being added over the five-year period, it said.
In the same period, the number of private kindergartens dropped by 187, it added.
A total of 3.99 million students are currently enrolled across all educational levels, with elementary-school students accounting for the largest share at 1.2 million, the statistics showed.
That is followed by 1.07 million university and college students, representing 139,000 fewer university students compared with 2019, the data showed.
Of those students enrolled at the university and college level, 513,000, or 47.7 percent, are enrolled in science and technology programs, followed by 364,000, or 33.8 percent, in social sciences and 198,000, or 18.4 percent, in the humanities.
The number of students enrolled in science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields at the university and college level increased by 4.5 percent compared with 2019, the statistics showed.
This year, 140 schools were approved to offer experimental education programs, and nearly 27,000 students were enrolled in those programs — an increase of 8,911 students over 2019, the ministry said.
Experimental education is categorized into three types: school-based, public-private partnership and non-school-based education. Among these, school-based experimental education has grown the fastest, with the number of approved schools nearly doubling over the past five years, it said.
Student participation in the category rose to 12,164 last year from 7,675 in 2019 — an increase of nearly 60 percent, the ministry said.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS