The Central Personnel Administration (CPA) said yesterday that it would draw up measures within a month to change a decades-old education subsidy for children of retired civil servants, military personnel and teachers that a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker called unfair.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday that DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) questioned the legitimacy of the subsidy, which was authorized in 1976 under an administrative order.
The government gives between NT$13,600 and NT$35,800 a semester to college students from the households of teachers, military personnel or civil servants, while technical college students get between NT$7,700 and NT$28,000. High school students receive between NT$3,800 and NT$13,500 and a vocational high school student gets between NT$1,500 and NT$18,900. Elementary school or junior high school students receive NT$500.
The subsidy was available to the families of retired civil servants, military personnel and teachers on a monthly pension.
The CPA said 54,000 retired civil servants, military personnel and teachers have applied for the subsidy, costing the treasury NT$1.5 billion (US$45 million) a year.
Chen said the subsidy was not only unfair, it was illegal because it was based on an administrative order and not the law.
“There have been concerns about this issue for years and we are now evaluating the appropriateness of the subsidy,” CPA Chief Secretary Chang Nien-chung (張念中) said.
Central Personnel Administration Minister Chen Ching-hsiou (陳清秀) asked the agency to review the program and prepare a revision within a month, Chang said.
The CPA might set certain criteria such as financial situation for those applying for the subsidy, a CPA official said on condition of anonymity.
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