Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lun (
She said that students should not be victimized due to partisan feuds in the Legislative Yuan.
PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Students stricken by hunger have been a much-talked-about subject since last month when Chinese-language media reported that more than 70,000 primary school students could not afford to pay for the lunch meals provided by schools, and schools could not offer any help either, because the subsidy was frozen by the legislature.
As there has been no development on the issue because of differing views between the ruling and opposition parties on the issue, Fan yesterday voiced her concern and called on the lawmakers to seek for a timely solution for the sake of students.
For this fiscal year, NT$433 million has been apportioned to local governments for the lunch meals of elementary students.
However, in accordance with a newly passed legislative resol-ution, the Executive branch must first gain approval from the legislature at a monthly meeting regarding how the funding will be used, so that the legislature can better monitor the executive departments.
Fan said because of this regulation, the budget earmarked for the lunch meal was rejected twice this year -- on March 27 and April 26 respectively, when the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (主計處), under the Executive Yuan, reported to the legislature because the opposition alliance disapproved part of the subsidies for local governments.
The vice minister stressed that her appeal was not meant to prompt partisan feuding, but was to prevent students from suffering because of political conflicts.
But Fan also dismissed media reports that students were stricken with hunger.
She said no students should be suffering from hunger nowadays because -- although being strapped for cash -- the local governments have managed to cover part of the fees for students who are from low-income families. And, along with the assistance from charity groups and faculty members at the schools, she said, no students should be afflicted by starvation.
Opposition lawmakers, however, did not consider it fair for them to shoulder the blame.
They accused the ruling administration of fault, and said that the DPP was spreading wrong information intended to mislead the general public.
"The budget bill was not sent to the legislature until March. How can we finish the reviewing process now?" said PFP lawmaker Diane Lee
DPP lawmakers said the opposition alliance was "opposed for the sake of opposing," and its request solely indicated how the legislative power had overridden the executive power.
"It is absolutely unreasonable for the Executive branches to report to the legislature every month in detail how its budget is used. By doing so, [opposition parties] just attempt to gain control of the authority to distribute financial resources," said DPP lawmaker Wang Li-ping (
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
RSS