Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) yesterday said his ministry will continue to explain ongoing education reform schemes to the public and seek resolution to the education deadlock that has angered the nation's students and parents.
"People complain because they don't understand what exactly the contents of the reform measures are," Huang said yesterday.
"The main problem in Taiwan's education system is that too much emphasis is put on high school and university entrance exams and parents are worried their children might fall behind classmates early on," Huang said.
Huang was speaking in response to remarks by President Chen Shui-bian's (
The reforms are primarily aimed at improving the Multiple Enrollment Scheme (MES), designed to provide an alternative to the rigid joint entrance exams, which were previously the sole route for those seeking entrance into high school or university.
"We are trying to simplify and integrate the MES to make it a fairer system. During these changes, we will repeatedly explain our actions to the public," Huang said.
In a bid to limit confusion, Huang said, "The MOE is studying the possibility of pushing forward a K-12 schooling system."
The K-12 education system is expected to extend the current nine-year compulsory education to 13 years, including one year of kindergarten and three years of senior high school education. The current nine-year compulsory education spans six years of elementary education and three years of junior high school.
The MOE has said that the one-year compulsory kindergarten education would be put into practice starting in 2005, while the three-year compulsory senior high education has yet to be given a start date.
TSU legislator Cheng Chen-lung (程振隆), a member of the legislative education committee, yesterday dismissed Chen's remarks, saying you cannot overhaul the educational system by simply asking to reduce the pressure on students.
"There will inevitably be pressure in studying," Cheng said. "As long as the students like what they are studying and the degree of pressure is bearable, we will survive."
"But to simply ask for a non-pressure studying environment is not conducive to the cultivation of talents that Taiwan needs for high-tech development," Cheng said.
"The education material used in Taiwan is relatively easier than that used in other developed nations. To alleviate the pressure on students would undermine students' academic ability," the lawmaker added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS