New Taipei City students who demonstrate excellence in the study of indigenous languages would be eligible for art, culture and sport-related scholarships, the city’s Education Bureau said.
The bureau said it is encouraging students to learn indigenous languages and participate in speaking and reading competitions in those languages to preserve indigenous culture.
“The preservation of indigenous languages contributes to cultural diversity, and the study of these languages enhances the parent-child relationship in indigenous households,” New Taipei City Indigenous Peoples Department director Siku Yaway said on Friday.
Taiwan’s indigenous languages belong to the Austronesian language family, with the Atayal community in the city’s Wulai District (烏來) being the world’s northernmost people speaking a language from that family, she said.
“The department encourages the teaching of these languages in urban environments, with the hope that this will lead to use of the languages in daily life,” she said, adding that competitions aim to stimulate interest and learning.
This year, the department has awarded 1,156 scholarships to students at the city’s grade schools, worth a total value of NT$5.18 million (US$167,529).
The scholarships have been used to develop talent in fields such as sports, language and cultural studies, as well as vocational skills, she said.
Citing an example of a scholarship recipient, Yaway said that Lin Yu-hsuan (林于軒), who is a Sakizaya speaker at Banciao District’s (板橋) Juguang Elementary School, demonstrated creativity and motivation in learning her parents’ mother tongue.
While preparing for a reading competition, Lin learned words with her father’s help by listening to him speak and writing out the sounds using pinyin, she said, adding that Lin would listen to audio recordings from a language instructor to perfect her pronunciation.
Another student — an Amis boy named Chang Chih-kai (章致開) from Da Guan Elementary and Junior High School in the city’s Sindian District (新店) — studies the Amis language, in addition to participating in the school’s track, field and wrestling teams, despite coming from a disadvantaged home, she said.
“The bureau hopes to encourage such excellence through its scholarship program,” she said.
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