Wed, Jan 03, 2024 page3

• Alliance seeks fix for school safety net after death

  ‘BIG HOLE’: Protection of students’ rights has been mandated, so how can schools detect contraband if they cannot search their belongings, the parents’ group asked

  • By Rachel Lin / Staff reporter
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  The National Alliance of Presidents of Parents’ Associations yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Education in Taipei, calling for the ministry to close loopholes in the campus safety net after a junior-high school student was killed in a stabbing incident on campus last week.

  Wang Li-sheng (王立昇), a parent representative, said that although the junior-high school where the stabbing occurred is supervised by the New Taipei City Government, the ministry, the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice must be involved in the city’s efforts to fix the loopholes as soon as possible.

  K-12 Education Administration Deputy Director-General Tai Shu-fen (戴淑芬) greeted the group and received their petition.

  

  National Alliance of Presidents of Parents’ Associations members protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times

  The education ministry has formed an ad hoc task force to address the incident, with Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) as its convener, Tai said.

  The task force would hold its second meeting tomorrow, at which it is expected to formulate strategies to help school personnel better protect students, she said.

  Alliance chairman Chang Che-wei (張哲維) asked why a student on probation was allowed to bring a weapon to school, and why a teenager who is impenitent and ferocious was admitted to a general junior-high school right after being released from a juvenile detention facility.

  “A junior-high school student being murdered on campus indicates that there is a big hole in the campus safety net,” Chang said.

  Although Pan immediately after the incident instructed schools to enhance contraband control measures, many parents think the order is a case of “not seeing the forest for the trees,” Chang said.

  The education ministry has stressed that students’ rights must be protected, so how can school personnel detect contraband if they cannot search students’ belongings, including students on probation? he asked.

  Amendments to the Observations on the Law Governing Educators’ Teaching and Punishing of Students as Defined and Implemented by Schools (學校訂定與實施教師輔導與管教學生辦法注意事項) have gone too far, meaning teachers dare not disciple students, he said, adding that the rules must be revised to restore teachers’ rights to discipline.

  The law must uphold students’ basic rights, but protect their “right to safety,” he said.

  Many parents think character education is the most pressing issue, and they are most concerned about bullying, illegal drug use and on-campus security, the alliance said.

  The incident has left them even more anxious, as there are rumors that the offender had been a member of a criminal gang, it said.

  The alliance asked how the government would prevent criminal organizations from infiltrating schools.

  With military instructors being replaced by campus security personnel, security problems seem to have worsened, so the education ministry should reflect on the problem and propose solutions, it added.

  School campuses are not detention facilities, so the ministries should work together to strictly review the mechanisms of probation approval, counseling and mediation to ensure students’ safety, the alliance said.
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