Kaohsiung aims to establish the nation’s first Hoklo-language elementary school by next year at the earliest, the Kaohsiung City Government said on Wednesday.
The southern city has the most Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) speakers of any municipality, with about 43 percent of residents primarily speaking the language, according to government data from 2020.
Based on city population data, that makes about 1.2 million in Kaohsiung whose primary language is Hoklo.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
At a city council meeting on Wednesday, Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) asked whether the city could solicit funding from the central government to set up an experimental school conducted entirely in Hoklo.
Kaohsiung Education Department Commissioner Hsieh Wen-pin (謝文斌) replied that elementary and junior-high schools already have Hoklo classes in accordance with the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法).
As for setting up an experimental Hoklo-language school, Hsieh said a department committee has met to discuss the matter and has already selected an elementary school.
Using teachers’ existing skills, the school aims to conduct at least half of all classes in Hoklo, Kaohsiung Elementary School Education chief Chiu Yueh-ying (邱月櫻) said.
A trial is to begin in August, in the hopes of formally opening the school in August next year, Chiu added.
The relatively small school would be located in northern Kaohsiung in an area already populated by a large proportion of Hoklo speakers, the department said.
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