More than three-quarters of Taiwanese support amending laws to ban corporal punishment at home, the Humanistic Education Foundation told a news conference on Tuesday.
A survey conducted by the foundation showed that 39.2 percent of parents discipline their children using corporal punishment, 66.3 percent scold their children and 56.3 percent dispense other forms of punishments.
The survey also showed that 96.5 percent of parents teach their kids by reasoning or communicating with them.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The majority of parents support banning corporal punishment at home, with 24.1 percent being highly supportive and 53.6 percent agreeing if there are supporting measures in place, the survey showed.
Most parents advocate a supportive system that can help improve their parenting skills, the survey showed.
The main obstacles faced by most parents include the long hours childcare requires and being torn between work and childcare, the foundation said.
This requires concrete measures from the government to help reduce the pressure on parents, it said, adding that other countries have enacted laws prohibiting corporal punishment at home to reduce incidents of child abuse, including Japan and South Korea, which passed such laws in 2020 and last year respectively.
Akito Kita, a professor at Waseda University and an expert in pedagogy and education law, told the news conference that Japan enacted a “child abuse prevention act” in 2019 and amended its “child welfare act” in 2020 prohibiting parents and legal guardians from inflicting corporal punishment in the name of discipline.
Japan is also drafting amendments to its civil law to abolish the disciplinary rights of parents and legal guardians, he added.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
RSS