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.
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