The Taipei City Government has fined 14 private preschools for breaches of city regulations and rules governing preschool education and care, including exceeding enrollment, with one school admitting 106 students more than is permitted, city officials said on Thursday.
The fined schools were among 147 inspected by the city for public safety management between January and the end of September, the officials said, adding that they had ordered the schools to make improvements.
The city later found that only five of the schools had made the improvements, while eight were instructed to make additional enhancements and one, fined last year, failed to make any of the improvements and was fined again, Taipei Consumer Protection Officer Kung Chien-ya (龔千雅) told a news conference.
The list of issues the city found included hiring unlicensed preschool educators, exceeding enrollment limits, using unlicensed classrooms and failing to meet student-instructor ratio requirements, Taipei Department of Education official Hsu Hua-hsien (徐華鮮) said.
Among those ordered to make improvements were preschools affiliated with Hess International Educational Group and Karl Witte Montessori School in the Donghu (東湖) area of Neihu District (內湖), which were fined NT$438,000 and NT$237,000 respectively for exceeding enrollment, among other breaches of city guidelines, Hsu said.
In a recent evaluation, the city fined Karl Witte Montessori School in Donghu for failure to make improvements and ordered it to suspend enrollment for one year, she added.
Overenrolled schools constrain student activities and hinder proper education due to limited space, Hsu said, adding that these schools should return a portion of tuition and fees to parents.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
RSS