The Minister of Education, Huang Jong-tsun (
"This is the first time that former ministers who made huge contributions to education reforms get together at a reunion," Huang said in the press conference after the luncheon.
"We have reached consensus on establishing a locale for the ministry's history exhibit, which will track the evolution of the education reforms and, when looking back on the past, would enable us to make good decisions in the future," he said.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The former education ministers, who all served under the KMT government, are Lee Huan (李煥), Mao Kao-wen (毛高文), Kuo Wei-fan (郭為藩), Wu Jin (吳京) and Kirby Yung (楊朝祥). Ovid Tseng (曾志朗), also present at the reunion, and Huang were appointed by the DPP.
Huang compared the education reforms to a growing tree that needed to be trimmed to enable it to grow strongly and healthily.
"It is inevitable that some policies will be adjusted in the process of education reform," Huang said.
"The task of reforming education displays a necessary continuity. Every minister handed his reform relay baton to the next one. Every task and measure were closely linked. It would be unfair to hold a single individual responsible for all reforms."
The former ministers agreed with Huang and almost every minister said that he was willing to take responsibility for the reforms.
"I considered myself a stable reformer, rather than the conservative that people regarded me as," said Kuo Wei-fan (郭為藩), who served in the position from 1993 to 1996. It was during his term in office that the ad hoc Educational Reform Evaluation Committee was launched.
"I will not make excuses for any policies that I implemented," Kuo said.
Alluding to the denunciation of education reforms that recently snowballed throughout the nation, Kuo said he worried that over-the-top criticism of the process would stifle the real reforms.
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