The Legislative Yuan plans to ban dress codes and hairstyle regulations at schools to better protect students’ freedom of expression.
Although the Ministry of Education abolished nationwide dress codes and hairstyle regulations several years ago, leaving such decisions to individual schools and instructed schools not to punish students for violations, a survey by the legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau shows that as many as 93 percent of junior-high schools were still checking students hair as of last year, while 57 percent continue to penalize students for hair code violations.
The bureau said that dress and hair codes restrict freedom of expression which is protected in the Constitution. It also noted that a dress code does not necessarily have any connection to maintaining order on campus or education.
The bureau said that such codes, like other restrictions, can only exist with a legal foundation, henceforth enforcing them could be considered unconstitutional.
The Basic Education Act (教育基本法) should stipulate that, except for health and safety concerns, schools cannot penalize students for dress or hair code violations, and that related regulations “should be decided through a democratic process.”
The bureau made the suggestion in response to an incident at National Tainan Girls’ Senior High School in March when nearly 2,000 students at the school dropped their pants during the morning flag-raising ceremony.
The students action was taken to protest a new dress code that stipulated shorts could only be worn in physical education classes and that uniform jackets must be zipped all the way up to the second button of the uniform shirt.
The bureau also suggested revising the Gender Equality Education Act (性別平等教育法) to prohibit schools from “forcing students of different gender, different gender character or different sexual orientation to dress in accordance with or have a hair style that matches the stereotypical image of a certain gender.”
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
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
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS