Teachers’ groups yesterday urged the government to amend regulations to alleviate the administrative burden on teachers.
The Taiwan Early Childhood Education Union urged the government to amend regulations governing kindergartens and preschools.
Current regulations stipulate that kindergarten and preschool directors must also be teachers, resulting in overwork and high burnout rates, the union said in a news release ahead of Teachers’ Day today.
Photo coutesy of the National Federation of Education Unions
The typical preschool or kindergarten has a faculty of five teachers or fewer, but more than 150 children in its care, it said, adding that teachers must also serve as the school’s director and section heads.
This means teachers are in charge of enrollment, tuition, procurement, student health, meal arrangements and accounting in addition to caring for the children, the union said.
Only the director and one section head are compensated for administrative work and meagerly at that, it added.
The Ministry of Education should rethink its organizational scheme for childhood education, starting with hiring full-time administrators and tasking government health personnel with the logistics of medical services, it said.
The National Education Action Alliance also called on the government to reduce paperwork at schools, as it has reached “nightmare” proportions.
The ministry has pledged to cut the amount of paperwork educators must process, but its policies yielded no discernible effect so far, alliance chairman Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said.
Teachers are not able to concentrate on teaching and providing guidance due to the extent of their administrative duties, Wang said, adding that much of the burden consists of meaningless work.
The National Federation of Education Unions said in a separate news release that local governments’ gifts for teachers on Teachers’ Day left many educators feeling slighted.
Most local governments give teachers coupons and trinkets ranging from electric massagers to liquor, except Pingtung County, which is giving nothing this year, it said.
Taipei teachers would receive a NT$2,000 bonus, the largest in the nation, the federation said.
New Taipei City teachers would receive NT$1,000 in coupons or gift cards, just half of what their colleagues get in the region next door, it said.
Taoyuan teachers would receive NT$600 of 7-Eleven coupons, Hinschu County teachers would receive electric massagers and Hsinchu City teachers would receive NT$500, it said.
Miaoli City teachers would receive NT$500 and Miaoli County teachers would receive a locally made NT$300 summer blanket, it added.
Taichung teachers would receive NT$600 of PX Mart or 7-Eleven coupons, Changhua County teachers would receive NT$300 OK Mart coupons and a plastic food container, while Yunlin County teachers would receive NT$300 of 7-Eleven coupons, it said.
Chiayi county and city teachers would receive a signed greeting card from the county commissioner and mayor respectively, while Hualien County teachers would receive Eslite bookstore coupons worth NT$600, it added.
Yilan County teachers would receive NT$200 and Penghu County teachers would receive NT$500 in convenience store coupons, it said.
Kinmen County teachers would receive a bottle of Kaoliang liquor, it added.
Federation members believe that the government should make Teachers’ Day a holiday for teachers or cancel it altogether, federation president Lin Shuo-chieh (林碩杰) said.
Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Taiwan on Sept. 28, the assumed birthday of Confucius (孔子).
Separately yesterday, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that the caucus is to propose a bill to make Teachers’ Day and Workers’ Day on May 1 national holidays.
Created to fulfil TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential campaign platform to promote a labor-friendly environment, the TPP proposed to make Teachers’ Day a holiday and allow everyone to have Workers’ Day off, Huang said.
TPP Legislator Mach Ngoc Tran (麥玉珍) said that Taiwanese are even more overworked and underpaid following amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
The TPP is to continue to fight for labor rights and promote policies that increase the number of mandatory national holidays, she said.
Additional reporting by Lee Wen-hsin
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