Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is to hit the brakes on the Bilingual 2030 policy, but would keep it on the nation’s agenda, he said during an interview published yesterday.
“These things take time,” he said. “We need to slow down.”
Taiwanese enterprises are active globally and need people with professional-level proficiency in the English language, Cheng told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an exclusive interview.
Photo: Huang Chun-hsuan, Taipei Times
English-only universities are attractive to high-performing foreign students who can become part of the nation’s skilled workforce, he said.
Cheng said that while president of National Sun Yat-sen University, he contributed to the design and implementation of a 10-year plan to achieve English-only instruction at its graduate school.
The program emphasized recruiting qualified faculty members and course design before launching classes in English, which would only be mandatory at the university’s graduate school in 2030, he said.
The undergraduate section would offer optional courses taught in English, Cheng said.
About 80 percent of Taiwanese enterprises have branches in 20 to 30 foreign nations, most of which use English, he said, adding that bilingual education needs to start now to prepare the workforce two or three decades from today.
The implementation of the Bilingual 2030 policy leaves something to be desired, as local governments are in a rush to hire English teachers regardless of qualifications to meet targets, he said.
Under Cheng’s leadership, the Ministry of Education would show more care in its coordination with local education authorities to ensure the core competencies of educators are not neglected, he said.
Children should be encouraged to learn English in their daily lives, Cheng said, adding that he launched as the then-director-general of the Kaohsiung Education Bureau collaborations with McDonald’s and doctors to promote the use of English by students.
Children making orders in English were rewarded with a free side of fries and those using the language to speak with doctors got a NT$50 discount on their appointment fees, he said.
The ministry is to make a greater effort to give students from poor rural regions or culturally disadvantaged backgrounds the English-language education they need, he added.
Citing a study by students’ rights group EdYouth, Cheng said metropolitan areas have a near glut of bilingual education resources.
The ministry is mulling plans to use university social responsibility programs to send more university students to teach English to children disadvantaged by geography or culture, he said.
Meanwhile, the vocational school system must become skill-centric instead of focusing on conferring diplomas, and the culture of rewarding employees for educational attainment instead of practical skills must be changed, he said.
Vocational high-school graduates on average make NT$25,000 to NT$28,000 a month, much less than university graduates who make NT$32,000 to NT$35,000 a month, he said.
The disparity in income spurs 90 percent of vocational school graduates to try enrolling in a university instead of learning a trade, with negative implications for the economy, he said.
Regarding the aging population, Chen said that employee education could be an answer to the economy’s need for a trained workforce.
There are 8 million working Taiwanese between the ages of 30 and 50 who should be able to study at universities, he added.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS