The Ministry of Education (MOE) and early childhood education representatives reached a preliminary agreement after more than 10,000 pre-school and kindergarten educators took to the streets yesterday, calling on the ministry to stop neglecting education for young children and to withdraw a bill from legislative review.
After a closed-door meeting lasting an hour, MOE Secretary-General Chen Ming-yin (
Because childcare centers and kindergartens are subject to separate regulations, standards for teacher qualifications, operations and government subsidies differ, she said.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
To integrate the two systems, the Cabinet introduced a childhood care and education bill to the Legislature in May.
Early Childhood Education Alliance president Huang Li-chu (
Huang said it was wrong to include babysitting services and education for children up to 12 years old in the bill.
Huang said that the government and sector agree it is necessary to integrate nurseries, preschools and kindergartens, but added that the ministry's proposal was "ridiculous" because it included such a wide range of services.
"We are educators, not businessmen. We should not be treated like we are running commercial cram schools. It is obvious the ministry does not care about early childhood education. Why is it that the ministry is willing to spend NT$50 billion (US$1.5 billion) on tertiary education for the next five years, but only a few million on pre-elementary education?" she asked.
The protesters demanded the ministry remove a regulation in the bill that would require parents to sign a contract with the school their child attends before the school year's start.
The contract template proposed by the ministry "commercializes" early-childhood education and treats children as commodities, the educators said.
"The regulation is dangerous and unfair for parents with troubled children because according to the contract, schools have the right to refuse to accept students if the students or parents do not fulfill the terms. This will indirectly create many unwanted students," Huang said.
In response to the protest, Chen said the ministry would drop the regulation and draw up an alternative proposal to ensure the quality of early childhood education.
At a separate setting, however, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Sue-ying (
In addition to integrating different kinds of education for young children under one law, the bill also aims to solve other problems, she said.
One issue is the quality of privately run schools, Alliance for Integrated Childcare Policy convener Liu Yu-hsiu (
"More than 70 percent of kindergartens and childcare centers nationwide are privately owned and operated," Liu said. "They charge parents very high fees, but a lot of them hire unqualified teachers and pay them minimal salaries."
Monthly fees for private childcare centers and kindergartens in Taipei can range from NT$11,000 to NT$17,000, while public schools average around NT$6,000, she said.
"Although operators are charging so much, the nationwide average salary for childcare workers and kindergarten teachers is only about NT$28,000," she said.
To combat the issue, the bill proposes creating more public kindergartens and encouraging non-profit organizations working with childcare issues to set up non-profit kindergartens.
Standardized contracts for private kindergartens would also be imposed under the bill, Huang Sue-ying said.
To ensure affordable childcare, both public and non-profit kindergartens would receive subsidies from the government, Huang said.
"Of course private childcare operators will be against it, but I don't think they need to worry," Liu said.
"There will always be parents who are willing to pay more to have their children attend private kindergartens," Liu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by