High-school students in Tainan yesterday gathered at Tainan Railway Station and called on the Ministry of Education to respect the rights of students in southern Taiwan and to resume meetings with students over its adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines.
Students said the ministry is trying to brainwash students by including Chinese history and geography in Taiwanese studies.
Demonstrators said they would escalate the protests if the ministry does not resume the meetings it ended last month.
Photo: CNA
The ministry scheduled four meetings with students in Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Hsinchu last month that aimed to clarify the adjustments made to course materials for Chinese and social studies classes, but Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) canceled three remaining meetings after completing only one meeting at National Taichung First Senior High School.
The ministry said Wu left to attend to business abroad.
Li Ming High School student Chen Po-jen (陳伯任), organizer of a campaign by Tainan high-school students targeting the curriculum changes, yesterday said the new curriculum describes Mount Everest as the highest peak “in the nation,” which is an apparent attempt to “brainwash” students.
He said that Taiwan, as a sovereign state, should not ingratiate itself with China by imbuing the curriculum with imposed ideology that manipulates students, adding that students should be free from ideological influence.
Accusing Wu of refusing to communicate with students in southern Taiwan by canceling the meetings, Chen asked whether the ministry has overlooked the rights of students in the region.
Saying that Taiwan is a nation that boasts freedom and human rights, Pingtung high-school students organizer Wu Chia-hung (吳佳鴻) called on the ministry to introduce politics into high-school education.
Chen said Pingtung students would stage protests in coordination with students in Taichung and Taipei to deliver their petitions.
He said that although many parents disapprove of the idea of students taking to the streets, he has received support from many students and is willing to stand up to express students’ voices.
Saying that students in southern Taiwan would seek to petition Wu Se-hwa according to legal procedures, Chen said they would stage larger — but peaceful — protests if the ministry hedges at the issue and disregards national sovereignty.
Civic education instructor at National Tainan First Senior High School Kuo Fu-chi (郭復齊) said the ministry had established research centers across the nation to consult high-school teachers in formulating the provisional high-school curriculum guidelines implemented in 2006, but it did not involve those centers and teachers in drawing up the new curriculum this time.
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