The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Taipei City Education Department for poor supervision of Taipei Wego Private Senior High School, which allegedly used corporal punishment to enforce an overly restrictive dress code.
The school implemented collective punishment and corporal punishment for dress code contraventions, but the department did not require the school to investigate or address complaints when they were received, Control Yuan members Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) and Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) said in a statement based on their investigation.
The department received 11 petitions regarding improper enforcement of the school’s dress code from August 2020, when the Ministry of Education introduced new dress code policies, until March this year, the investigation showed.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The petitions regarded the school imposing restrictions on students’ hairstyles, its punishment of students for wearing extra layers of clothes on cold days and for not having a committee that could arbitrate dress code disputes, it showed.
After review of the school’s documentation, the department determined that the dress codes contravened ministry regulations, it said.
However, the department only sent a letter to the school asking it to review and revise its dress codes, and to announce the new policies on its Web site within one month, none of which the school did, it said.
Upon receiving reports of alleged corporal punishment at the school, the department should have required the school to investigate the allegations within five days, which did not happen, Yeh and Lai said.
Teachers also reportedly punished students for dress code contraventions by forcing them to perform campus services, also not within ministry regulation, they said.
Complaints continued to be filed with the department, with responses to the petitioners only relaying the school’s position and the department’s actions, without an investigation taking place, they said.
The department neglected its duty to supervise the school, and failed to protect students’ rights to education and expression, they said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS