The Ministry of Education said yesterday that it is crafting a lifelong learning system for foreign and Chinese citizens who have married Taiwanese.
The ministry said it is focusing on helping city and county governments open classes for foreign spouses of Taiwanese.
"We have offered financial subsidies for local governments to open 391 Chinese-language classes for foreign spouses so far this year," said Liu Yi-chuan (劉奕權), director of the ministry's Social Education Department.
According to Liu, the ministry is scheduled to publish teaching materials for foreign spouses basic-education classes and a manual for Chinese-Vietnamese language teachers next April.
The ministry will also work with private groups in producing television teaching programs and posting teaching materials on the Internet, Liu said.
With the number of Taiwanese married to foreign nationals increasing steadily, the number of schoolchildren from mixed marriages has also risen.
Official tallies show that the ratio of first graders from mixed marriages has surged from 5.12 percent to 12.46 percent over the past five years, with the number rising from 13,940 to 30,833 in the current school year.
In addition to helping these children adapt to school life, Liu said, the ministry has stepped up adult education programs for foreign spouses because they play an important role in schoolchildren's care and family life.
According to Liu, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) has drawn up a five-year education plan for foreign and Chinese spouses.
Under the plan, to be launched next year, the government will spend up to NT$700 million on adult-education programs.
According to MOI's tallies, there were 71,052 foreign spouses legally residing in Taiwan as of June, with Taipei city and county and Taoyuan County as the top three areas of residence. The majority of spouses -- 65,466, or 92.14 percent -- are women.
Vietnam was the top source of foreign spouses with 43,478, followed by Indonesia with 10,52, and Thailand with 5,861.
An unofficial tally puts the the number of foreign spouses at between 250,000 and 280,000, with about 100,000 from Southeast Asia and the rest from China.
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