Teachers from all levels of education will wear black T-shirts emblazoned with a leaking oil drum in “silent protest” at what they say are the government’s repeated failures to follow through with its promised educational policies on Teachers’ Day, the National Federation of Teachers Unions said.
Teachers’ Day is a day honoring teachers for their efforts to educate the younger generation. In Taiwan, it is marked on Sept. 28, the Gregorian calendar equivalent to the date of Confucius’ birth on Aug. 27 of the Lunar calendar.
The union said President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has promised that the average number of students per class in elementary schools would be cut to 25, but after four years in power, many classes still have 30 students.
Photo courtesy of the National Federation of Teachers Union
“We intend to stay in the classrooms this time to criticize the government. It has been the government all along that has taken the lead in breaking the trust the people should have in it,” the union said.
So far, 20,000 teachers have bought the T-shirts and more are bought every day, it added.
Union secretary-general Wu Chung-tai (吳忠泰) said the Ma administration’s repeated failures to implement its promises was wrong and that people had the right and obligation to remind the government of its pledges.
Wu said the situation would only worsen if people did not take action, adding that teachers need to tell the government that its credibility is no longer what it was and that it was, like the logo on the shirts, “leaking away.”
Wu said that if the government refused to listen to teachers, the union would consider stronger methods.
Teachers’ Association in Greater Taichung manager Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭正) said about 6,000 teachers would wear the T-shirts, adding that the teachers would also explain why they were wearing the T-shirts, should students ask.
Chang said that despite the city government reducing class sizes due to there being less children and reallocating resources to hire on average 1.55 more teachers per class in elementary schools, the teachers are complaining because the Ministry of Education refused to subsidize funding for the employment of full-time teachers for consultation.
National Principals’ Association director Hsueh Chun-kuang (薛春光) questioned the action, saying that while governmental policies needed oversight, such protests add to the sense of confrontation within society.
If the National Federation of Teachers Unions led students to civic events or courses by example, it would make Teachers’ Day much more meaningful, Hsueh said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS