Teachers of Taiwan’s national languages are underpaid, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday, calling for them to be given the same wage hike that public-sector workers received last month.
DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said that the Ministry of Education has been slow in implementing the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法), and lacks a plan to foster an adequate number of teachers for Taiwan’s national languages: Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Hakka and the native languages of the nation’s indigenous people.
The act gives the ministry the responsibility of implementing national language classes, which are compulsory from elementary school to high school.
Photo: CNA
Some of those teaching national languages are school teachers on a regular salary, but others are classified as instructors or teaching aides and receive an hourly wage, Chiu said.
Of the 13,456 people teaching national language courses, 4,748 receive an hourly wage, he said, citing ministry data.
“These teachers are shouldering the burden of implementing this important education program, yet the ministry is paying them the same low wage that has not increased in more than a decade,” Chiu said.
For Hoklo and Hakka classes in elementary and junior-high schools, instructors are paid NT$320 per hour and teaching aides receive NT$360, while instructors are paid NT$360 per hour for indigenous languages and teaching aides receive NT$400, he added.
These teachers should receive the same 4 percent salary increase that the public-sector workers — civil servants, regular teachers and military personnel — were given this year, he said.
Chiu said that he talked with ministry officials two years ago about the wage issue, but that no concrete measure had so far been proposed.
Establishing a corps of national language teachers is difficult, as they must obtain certifications and receive 36 hours of training on classroom teaching before than can become accredited, DPP Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) said.
“But the ministry only pays them an hourly wage of NT$300 to NT$400, which is less than NT$20,000 per month. This is not fair — they are severely underpaid,” Lin said.
She also criticized the ministry for a lack of preparation before the opening of the school year.
“We have more than 500 high schools across the nation, but fewer than 50 people have been accredited to teach national language courses at the high-school level. This is completely inadequate — and it is inappropriate to rely on other teaching personnel,” she said.
“One way to attract more teachers to this program is to increase the pay,” she added.
While national language instructors and teaching aides work about the same hours as regular school teachers — 20 courses per week over an eight-month school term — they receive about NT$19,200 per month, less than the minimum monthly salary of NT$25,250, said Juan Pai-ling (阮百靈) of the Taiwan Mother Tongue Teachers’ Association.
“This is a hardship for these teachers, because they are forced to teach at several schools just to earn a living wage,” Juan said.
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