Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Friday expressed hope that young students in the city would no longer have to carry schoolbags loaded with books as the city government prepares to install lockers in more than 5,000 classrooms over the next three years.
Starting from this year, the city government is to budget NT$1.2 billion (US$38.3 million) for the policy to install lockers in 5,400 classrooms, Chiang said, adding that he hopes students in elementary and junior-high schools in the city would not have to carry schoolbags any heavier than one-eighth of their body weight.
The policy would target elementary schools first, while lockers would be placed in the classrooms of selected junior-high schools from next year, the Taipei Department of Education said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Data compiled by the city government showed that the maximum average weight of first and second-graders’ schoolbag’s in Taipei is 3.48kg, third and fourth-graders’ is 4.56kg and fifth and sixth-graders’ is 5.38kg,
representing a decrease of 5.17, 0.22 and 1.28 percent respectively compared with 2019.
Addressing concerns that a schoolbag weight reduction could be realized given that many students attend after-school programs or tutoring centers, Chiang said that teachers should tell students to leave unneeded textbooks at school and to fill their water bottles when they arrive at school.
Meanwhile, Taipei Department of Education Commissioner Tang Chih-min (湯志民) on Friday encouraged teachers to reduce the amount of homework they give students, adding that teachers should also give more interactive homework, rather than just written assignments.
The department said it would continue to ask schools to weigh students’ schoolbags and ask parents to help teach their children to only have necessary items in them.
However, the efficacy of such measures is questionable given that the city government has been promoting the idea for more than two decades.
In a meeting with Taipei’s
elementary school principals late last month, Tang raised the issue of reducing the weight of students’ schoolbags and offered similar advice.
However well intended, progress is hampered by the fact that even if students were to receive less homework, the space in their schoolbags would be filled with homework from tutoring centers, Association of Taipei’s Elementary School Principals president Chang Su-hua (張素花) said.
In other words, the cooperation of parents is required, added Chang, who is the principal of Shuanglian Elementary School.
Chen Ching-yi (陳清義), principal of Yanping Elementary School, said he observed that more students were bringing items such as roller skates, snake boards and building blocks to school, which suggests at least some of the weight comes from students’ extracurricular activities.
Therefore, it is inadequate if it is only schools that endorse the policy, Chen said, adding that there is a need for greater parental understanding and cooperation from tutoring centers.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS