Lawmakers from across party lines yesterday set up a reform committee aimed at restoring the joint entrance exam, saying the current system is confusing and easily manipulated.
PFP legislative whip Diane Lee (李慶安), co-founder of the Education Reform Committee, said the group plans to launch a signature drive for students and parents nationwide to express their discontent at existing admission programs.
She said the multi-route admission program has failed to ensure fairness or provide hoped-for vitality to Taiwan's educational system.
"The introduction of the program has subjected students to more school pressure, as they have to take more tests than ever before," Lee told a news conference. "Parents meanwhile have questioned its fairness, with many seeking to curry favor with influential teachers."
Under the multi-route admission program, college and high school hopefuls have to take the Basic Competency Test twice a year, in addition to maintaining satisfactory grade reports. Students with special talents may seek to enter favored schools with recommendations from teachers.
Lee urged the Ministry of Education to replace the current program with a biannual joint entrance examination system for senior-high-school hopefuls.
TSU lawmaker Chen Cheng-lung (程振隆) said he found the Basic Competency Test in need of reform, as it fails to accurately determine students' proficiency.
On Wednesday, Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) said, however, that he opposed any resumption of the joint entrance exam.
Huang said that the ministry is conducting a review of the "multi-route program for entering senior high schools" to find ways to improve it. The review is expected to be completed by mid-August.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
A tropical depression near the northwestern Philippines is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Danas by early tomorrow, becoming the fourth tropical storm of the season, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 8am today, the system was located approximately 370 kilometers southwest of Taiwan's southern tip, Cape Eluanbi, and has developed a more organized structure, forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The storm is currently moving slowly toward the Taiwan Strait in an east-northeast direction and may trigger a sea warning if it reaches tropical storm strength tomorrow morning. The system is expected to shift direction later tomorrow toward the north
‘ON THE RIGHT TRACK’: US analysts praised the ‘less scripted’ drills as strengthening defenses and resilience, as confusion and spontaneity are common in actual warfare This month’s annual Han Kuang military exercises are to feature six types of “gray zone” tactics used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the aim of weakening their effectiveness, Chief of the General Staff Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) told the military yesterday. The 41st Han Kuang drills, scheduled from Wednesday next week through July 18, would simulate a Chinese blockade and invasion, with President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday saying that Taiwan is already in a “war without gun smoke.” In a speech broadcast to officers and soldiers yesterday, Mei said that the six types of harassment are: legal warfare,
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