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.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
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
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
Taiwan and the US have begun trade negotiations over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said in an interview this morning before reporting to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US, has already established communication channels with the US Department of State and the US Trade Representative (USTR), and is engaging in intensive consultations, he said. Points of negotiation include tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and issues related to investment, procurement and export controls, he
RSS