Advocates of homeschooling said yesterday they would join parents' organizations in a rally tomorrow to urge the Ministry of Education to extend the length of compulsory education to 12 years and approve legislation for high school homeschooling.
Chen Yi-kuang (陳怡光), convener of Taiwan Homeschool Advocates — a group of families who homeschool their children — issued a press release saying the ministry had failed to protect the right of homeschooled children when it unveiled a plan to allow more junior high school graduates to skip high school entrance examinations.
Chen was referring to a ministry announcement on Monday last week that it planned to hold only one — instead of two — senior high school entrance examinations starting in the 2012 school year and to gradually allow more junior high school students to apply directly to senior high schools based on their school grades, instead of taking part in the entrance examinations, starting in the 2010 academic year.
The ministry allows parents to homeschool their children if they find standard elementary or junior high school education inadequate. However, homeschooled children are required to take entrance examinations if they want to enter senior high school.
Chen said the ministry's plan ran counter to the spirit of respect for different educational approaches, adding that there are now about 1,300 primary or high school-age children who have been homeschooled.
Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) said yesterday he understood parents' desire to extend free compulsory education to 12 years, but the ministry could not push hasty reforms that might be detrimental to students.
“Education is different from cooking instant noodles,” Cheng said.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS