The Ministry of Education’s (MOE) recent reinstatement of calligraphy to curriculum guidelines and decision to allocate NT$4 million (US$128,000) to set up calligraphy centers in 24 elementary and middle schools across the nation has produced mixed reactions from legislators and educators.
Academics said calligraphy education has been seen as less important since the implementation in 2004 of the Nine-Year Educational Program — which allowed schools partial autonomy in establishing curricula — adding that the then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration underestimated the importance of calligraphy and its place within Chinese culture.
However, calligraphy education was viewed with greater significance when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to power in 2008, they said.
In 2011, the ministry published curriculum guidelines for calligraphy, and later included the standard of calligraphy education in criteria used to evaluate a school’s performance and eligibility for ministry subsidization, they said.
The level of calligraphy education in the nation has received increasing attention ever since — with calligrapher Tong Yang-tze’s (董陽孜) saying last year that Taiwan’s calligraphy education standards had fallen behind those in China, and Ma donating NT$1 million to an elementary school in Taichung for the construction of a classroom dedicated to calligraphy education.
Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said that the 12-year education curriculum highlights pluralism, and that calligraphy is a form of art worthy of conservation, which can help students learn how to concentrate and relax.
K-12 Education Administration division head Hsu Li-chuan (許麗娟) said the ministry recently formulated a set of regulations on subsidizing calligraphy education, with a NT$4 million budget available for teaching staff, learning activities and schools specializing in calligraphy education.
The ministry designated 24 schools as calligraphy schools, which would be provided with relevant teaching materials and specialized curricula, she said.
Calligraphy education is the only subject that has received special funding from the ministry, and many schools nationwide have been subsidized, except those in Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties and Tainan, she added.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said the unique art of Oriental calligraphy should be preserved, but it should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and not the Ministry of Education.
It is unnerving that the education ministry not only formulated curriculum guidelines on calligraphy, but also earmarked a specialized fund simply to cater to Ma’s personal penchant for calligraphy, she said, adding that the ministry should be tasked with allocating educational resources reasonably instead of varying education policies to please those in power.
“The Ma administration should avoid using calligraphy as a way to connect with China,” DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
National Alliance of Parents Organizations chairman Wu Fu-pin (吳福濱) said that as Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters, the education ministry should put more focus on traditional Taiwanese arts, such as glove puppetry and shadow play.
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