Aboriginal students are increasingly dropping out of college for financial reasons and because of their failure to compete with non-Aboriginal peers, among other factors, a legislator said yesterday, but officials argued otherwise.
During a session of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) said that young indigenous men and women can attend universities and colleges under a preferential entrance program.
Many drop out in the middle of their courses because of a lack of special academic support, she said.
Some find themselves trailing their non-Aboriginal peers after a period of time, Chin said. Others drop out as a result of financial difficulties, a situation that is exacerbated by the need to leave remote towns for campuses in cities, she said.
Chin said the trend of Aboriginals dropping out of school seems to have steadily risen in recent years.
However, Vice Minister of Education Chou Tsan-der (周燦德) disagreed, saying that the number of Aboriginal college students quitting had not increased.
Chou said 171 Aboriginal students attended colleges and universities in 2002. The number nearly doubled to 332 in 2003 and jumped to 714 last year.
Chou said the average Aboriginal student is unlikely to flunk because most colleges and universities operate resource-grouping classes to help them adapt academically.
Chou said the Ministry of Education could coordinate with the Council of Indigenous Peoples or the Ministry of the Interior to develop subsidies for Aboriginal students.
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