Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign headquarters yesterday promised to cautiously review high-school entrance programs, following a demonstration by a parents’ group, demanding that the Basic Competence Test for Junior-High School Students (BCT) be restored as the qualifying exam for senior high-school admission.
Holding placards reading: “Restore the BCT to make people worry-free” and “Parents support whoever supports parents,” members of the National Parents’ Alliance for 12-year Compulsory Education yesterday rallied outside Tsai’s campaign headquarters in Taipei, saying that if elected, Tsai should restore the BCT, as the current senior high-school entrance programs are too complicated.
“We demand the BCT be restored because it better accommodates the characteristics of different students. For instance, students with special talents might be directly admitted into high school without taking the exam, but for the 12-year compulsory education program, everyone is required to follow the Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High-School Students [CAP] exam,” alliance president Chow Mei-li (周美里) said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Junior high-school graduates might, to some extent, decide whether they would like to attend a senior-high school or a vocational school based on the results of the BCT, Chow said.
They would also have the ability to choose to apply for admission based on their own academic records and extracurricular activities, as well as whether they would like to attend a school near their home, the alliance said.
They might also choose not to take the BCT if they meet the criteria to be admitted to the schools they would like to attend, the alliance said.
On the other hand, the CAP is compulsory for all junior high-school graduates, making the threshold for senior high-school admission higher, as students have to be prepared for not only the exams, but also extracurricular activities.
Alliance vice president Chen Chi-chen (陳綺貞) called on Tsai to increase communication with parents whose children are actually in junior-high school and are seeking senior high-school admission.
“A platform for communication should be established, so that [Tsai] will not only listen to the opinions of some think tanks or ‘tenured parents,’ whose children have already graduated,” she said.
The parents were addressed by the DPP’s Taiwan Academy for Democracy director Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), who said that the party could not say whether the BCT would be restored if the DPP returns to the power, but promised that the DPP would gather more opinions and make careful considerations before coming up with a policy.
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
‘OFFSHORE OPERATIONS’: Also in Dallas, Texas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs inaugurated its third Taiwan Trade and Investment Center to foster closer cooperation The 2025 Taiwan Expo USA opened on Thursday in Dallas, Texas, featuring 150 Taiwanese companies showcasing their latest technologies in the fields of drones, smart manufacturing and healthcare. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event’s organizer, said the exhibitors this year include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; AUO; PC brand Asustek Computer; and drone maker Thunder Tiger. In his opening speech, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said he expected Texas to become a world-class center for innovation and manufacturing as US technology companies from Silicon Valley and Taiwanese manufacturers form an industrial cluster
A 20-year-old man yesterday evening was electrocuted and fell to his death after he climbed a seven-story-high electricity tower to photograph the sunset, causing a wildfire on Datong Mountain (大同山) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), the Taoyuan Police Department said today. The man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was accompanied on an evening walk by a 20-year-old woman surnamed Shang (尚) who remained on the ground and witnessed the incident, capturing a final photograph of her friend sitting atop the tower before his death, an initial investigation showed. Shang then sought higher ground to call for help, police said. The New Taipei
RSS