Premier William Lai (賴清德) said he is concerned about the Ministry of Education’s curriculum review committee’s meeting procedures, following its contentious decision over the ratio of classical Chinese-language articles to be included in the senior-high school curriculum guidelines, an official said.
Several proposals were made at the Sept. 10 meeting, including the elimination of classical Chinese from the curriculum guidelines; leaving the decision to teachers; decreasing the content to 40 to 50 percent or 30 to 40 percent; and setting the content level at 30 percent, Chiu said.
As no consensus could be reached, the committee opted for the original 45 to 55 percent content proposal made by a committee, overseen by the National Academy for Educational Research.
The decision sparked criticism from high-school teachers and lawmakers.
Some people said that they doubted that the 12 ministry officials on the review committee voted, even though their ballots were crucial in finalizing the decision.
“The procedure was seriously flawed,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
Lai asked Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) about the procedure, but did not give him any instruction, a high-level Executive Yuan official said on Sunday on condition of anonymity.
“Given the official members representing the government, they should take part in the procedure. Otherwise, it is irresponsible of them to neglect their duties,” the official said.
Since the proportion decided upon was the one proposed by the members in a joint decision, their conclusion should be reached after thorough discussion, the official said, adding that the ministry should weigh different opinions and respond to criticisms.
“If the procedure was flawed, they should make up for it,” the official said, declining media requests to comment on Pan’s ability to chair the review committee.
As the review committee is scheduled to convene another meeting on Saturday, the official said the decision is likely to be overturned.
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