Taiwanese believe that marriage, birth and child education, and elderly care policies need the most urgent attention, results of a Taiwan Youth Policy poll released yesterday showed.
However, about 70 percent of the respondents needed to be made aware of political parties’ policies for young people, the poll found.
The results were announced at a joint news conference hosted by the Taiwan Thinktank, the Taiwan Youth Foundation, the Taiwan Association of University Professors and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Hsiu-fang’s (黃秀芳) office. The Taiwan Thinktank commissioned Da Di Polling and Research Co to conduct the survey.
The poll of Taiwanese aged 18 or older received 1,083 valid responses, Taiwan Thinktank deputy executive director-general Doong Sy-chi (董思齊) said.
Asked to rate how well the government is taking care of young people’s needs on a scale of one to 10, the scores averaged 5.48.
Of the respondents, 86 percent said that the government should propose policies aimed at the younger generation, an idea that even 75 percent of people aged 70 or older agreed with.
Asked which political party’s youth policy was the most attractive, 17 percent of respondents chose the DPP, 6 percent chose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), 3 percent chose the Taiwan People’s Party and 1 percent chose the New Power Party.
Of the respondents, 85 percent agreed that candidates in next year’s presidential election should focus on policies for young people and present youth policy white papers.
In terms of respondents’ priorities, from most important to least, marriage between young people, child rearing and care for the elderly topped the list, while poverty among young people (including low wages and overwork), finding jobs and entrepreneurship, preferential loans for new businesses and youth participation in politics placed at the bottom.
Huang said that she had suggested to Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) that he include younger politicians when he reshuffled the Cabinet, and called for the promotion of more policies that affect the younger generation.
David Huang (黃適卓), a former vice dean at Kainan University, said that policies for young people are quite complex as they affect multiple generations, adding that such complex issues require collaboration between agencies.
The Youth Affairs Administration (YFA) was transferred from the Executive Yuan to the Ministry of Education during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, and in its current status, is incapable of handling youth affairs, David Huang said.
The government should emphasize youth affairs, and would demonstrate its resolve if it moved the YFA to a higher tier, he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS