Campus bullying and self-harm are the two primary issues of concern for the incoming Ministry of Education, requiring more counseling staff and division of labor to help students, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said on Monday.
Pan was presenting to the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee for the last time as minister after serving in the office for more than seven years, the longest of any head of education.
Asked about his greatest regrets, Pan named bullying and self-harm as among the top three issues he will instruct the next administration to address.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The ministry has already amended regulations requiring schools to investigate incidents, but there is still more work to be done, he said.
As for his greatest achievement during his 2,465 days in office, Pan named the new “108 curriculum” implemented in 2019, which aims to give schools more flexibility to promote a holistic curriculum.
Pan said his greatest challenge was the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but through joint efforts of the central and local governments, students’ education was not disrupted.
Also at the hearing, Pan was asked to comment on results of an industry-academia project geared toward students from New Southbound Policy countries.
A total of 50 schools have programs through the New Southbound Industry-Academia Collaboration Program, attracting about 20,000 students, he said.
There have now been 4,963 graduates in five graduating classes, 77 percent of whom have stayed in Taiwan to work, he said.
Overall recruitment of foreign students has been steadily growing, with 116,038 studying in Taiwan this academic year, Pan said.
Of them, 67,299 (10.6 percent) are pursuing degrees, up by 9,971 students from the last academic year, he said.
New Southbound Policy countries contributed 71,012 students this year, 16,111 of whom are from Vietnam, 5,110 are from Indonesia and 2,511 are from Malaysia, he added.
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