Seeking to encourage personal enrichment and enhance the nation's competitiveness, education officials yesterday approved a draft bill to promote lifelong learning.
The Education and Culture Committee of the Legislative Yuan passed the draft Lifelong Learning law. The bill will now be reviewed by a full session of the legislature.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Through this bill we hope to encourage the public, regardless of how old one might be, to engage in learning in this era of information exploration," Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (
"All citizens more than 18 years old are encouraged to participate in the lifelong learning program," Tzeng said.
Under the bill, cities and counties nationwide are encouraged to draw up lifelong-learning plans and activities according to the needs of their residents.
In order to ensure the bill benefits the entire adult population, the legislation requires that all city and county governments set up district universities to provide learning opportunities to the public.
"Combining with other re-sources such as local libraries, museums, memorial halls, gymnasiums and non-profit organizations, we hope that city and county governments will draw up a diverse curriculum in their lifelong-learning programs to meet the different needs of their residents," Tzeng said.
The bill also stated that the employees could take days off from work to take classes without having their salary deducted.
"While the bill would prompt government agencies to grant their employees days off to take classes, it is not a requirement for private companies, though we would strongly encourage them to do so," said Chou Tsan-der (
"[Private companies'] employees could take classes to broaden their knowledge and sharpen their skills in their professional fields," Chou said.
The bill also stated that minority groups such as Aborigines, the physically disabled and low-income families must have priority in enrollment for lifelong-learning programs.
"In light of the nation's high unemployment rate we especially see the need to encourage the public to enrich their skills and knowledge levels," Tseng said.
For the first time in 13 months, the nation saw a decline in its unemployment rate to 5.28 percent in November.
Prior to that, Taiwan's unemployment rate had risen to 5.33 percent in October from 5.26 percent in September. October's rate was highest since the government began compiling figures in 1978.
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