A coalition of foreign teachers and about 60 cram schools in Taiwan this week launched a petition for the government to allow English teachers to enter the country despite COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The schools and the Foreign Teachers Coalition are appealing for students, professors and academics to be included among the categories of foreign nationals who receive special permission to enter Taiwan, coalition member Oliver Ward said on Thursday.
Although Taiwan’s borders have been closed to nonresidents since early last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign English teachers were still able to apply for special permission to enter, but that stopped in June amid a spike in domestic cases in Taiwan, he said.
The petition, posted online as an open letter to the government, says that if Taiwan wants to meet its goal of becoming a bilingual country by 2030, it should allow foreign English teachers to enter the nation.
“Our role in Taiwan’s future is twofold: first we help fulfill the goal of a bilingual Taiwan, and second, we provide valuable diversity of perspective, which in turn provides for future innovation in Taiwan,” the coalition says in the petition.
The coalition said it was pleased that the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) had decided to allow Huayu Enrichment Scholarship recipients to enter Taiwan to study, adding that English teachers should be given the same consideration.
The coalition is initially targeting 500 signatures, but would continue to seek support until foreign English teachers are allowed to enter Taiwan to fulfill work contracts, it said.
The about 60 cram schools that signed the petition said that if they continue to face staffing shortages, they would be unable to open, affecting parents who rely on the after-school programs.
“About 70 percent of parents in Taiwan send their children to cram schools, while a majority of households include parents who are both employed full time,” the petition says. “This means that parents who send their children to these cram schools will not need to interrupt their day to pick up their children. This in turn helps maintain an efficient workforce and significantly contributes to the economy.”
The MOE said it would address the matter when it receives the petition through formal channels, adding that it does not have the authority to issue visas or work permits to foreign employees, as that falls under the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
If those ministries, in collaboration with the CECC, decide to permit the entry of other categories of foreign nationals, the MOE would respect that decision, it said.
Taiwan is processing applications for the entry of about 13,000 international students enrolled in degree programs and those who have received the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Taiwan Scholarship, officials said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS