The government is partly to blame for the crisis private schools are facing today, representatives from private school associations said yesterday.
Their remarks come as lawmakers review a draft act proposed by the Executive Yuan to regulate the closure of private senior-high schools and colleges.
Over the years, private schools have made many contributions to the cultivation of talent in the nation, whether in higher education, or senior-high and vocational education, Association of Private Universities and Colleges of Technology president Ko Tzu-hsiang (葛自祥) told a news conference in Taipei.
Many universities of science and technology, technical colleges or junior colleges, such as Taoyuan’s Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, where he works, were founded in the 1960s or 1970s, he said.
At the time, the nation was in the midst of a transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society, and needed a large number of people with practical talent, he said.
However, as the government was promoting a nine-year compulsory education program and did not have the financial resources to fund junior colleges, many were instead funded by donations from entrepreneurs, he said.
Although there were signs of a declining birthrate since the 1980s, the government still approved the establishment of many private universities throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he said.
With the number of schools rising while the birthrate declined, schools were unable to recruit enough students, he said.
That is a root cause of why many private schools today must close or transition, he said.
People have made generalizations about private universities because of the infractions made by a small number of private schools, he said, adding that the “dignity” of private universities should be restored.
Private schools are an asset and not a liability, Private Education Association president Tang Yen-po (唐彥博) said.
The government should share responsibility for the predicament today, he said, urging it to assist private schools in their transition.
The crisis of private schools facing closure is not a result of poor management by the schools, but rather a variety of external factors, including government policy, Association of Taiwan Private School Culture and Education chief adviser Yang Tun-ho (楊敦和) said.
Privates schools should not be forced to shut down if they are struggling, but still able to survive, he said.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan
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