Amid protests by pro-independence and pro-unification groups, the Examination Yuan yesterday failed to decide whether to remove tests on the nation's history and geography from January's entry-level national civil service examinations.
A resolution was reached, however, during a weekly closed-door Examination Yuan meeting to send the proposal, along with three others, to committees for review, pending final approval at next Thursday's weekly meeting.
PHOTO: CNA
The Examination Yuan is required by law to make the decision two months before the examination takes place, or by Nov. 14, if it eventually decides to abolish the test. If it does so, over 40,000 examinees would take only three tests rather than four as part of their exams.
Outside the Examination Yuan, members of the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan (511台灣正名運動), many with the map of Taiwan painted on their bodies, chanted, "Taiwan, national!" and argued with their pro-unification opponents across the street.
The pro-unificationists meanwhile held memorial wreaths used in Taiwanese funerals to express their "condolences" regarding the newly appointed head of the basic-level civil servant recruitment examination committee and Examination Yuan member Lin Yu-ti (
One of the messages attached to the floral arrangements read "in memory of Yao, Lin and other Examination Yuan members."
Lin caused a stir recently after saying he would only allow questions about Taiwan's history and geography to appear in national history and geography exams. Yao endorsed Lin's controversial proposal.
Yesterday's verbal bickering between the two groups then escalated into physical clashes when members of the alliance started to leave the site.
In response, alternative military servicemen were sent to guard the front gate of the Examination Yuan.
The Ministry of Examination has proposed three alternatives to scrapping the history and geography tests. The first is to remove tests on the nation's history and geography, as well as civics education, from national civil service examinations, starting with January's entry-level national examination.
The second proposal is to change the names of the tests to exclude the word "national" and specify the scope and percentage of questions that deal with Taiwan and China. It did not, however, propose specific percentages.
The final proposal is to maintain the names of the tests and specify the scope and percentage of questions. This proposal also does not set out specific percentages.
In addition to the three proposals, Examination Yuan members Chang Cheng-shuh (張正修) and Chen Mao-hsiung (陳茂雄) filed a motion during the meeting, proposing to continue the tests but change their name from "national history and geography" to "Taiwan history and geography" to avoid confusion.
Opinions have been polarized regarding whether the history and geography of the Republic of China should cover just Taiwan, or both Taiwan and China.
Minister of Examination Lin Chia-cheng (
"It doesn't make much sense to test examinees, most of whom are college graduates, with high school history and geography," he said. "Besides, since 2000 many national examinations have stopped testing examinees on history and geography."
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