Representatives from 31 parent groups yesterday criticized proposed changes to the Civil Code that would limit parents’ rights to punish children, saying it would harm their ability to educate them.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday last week approved an amendment to Article 1085 of the Civil Code stipulating that parents “must not engage in violent behaviors that harm mental and physical health.”
The article currently states that “parents may, within the limit of necessity, inflict punishment upon their children.”
The amendment process has not considered parents’ opinions and the change would weaken families’ ability to educate their children, the representatives said at a news conference, adding that the government should instead seek to invest in positive disciplining resources.
The boundaries between discipline and guidance have already been clarified and policies already protect children from violence, National Alliance of Parents Organization chairman Hsiao Tung-yuan (蕭東原) said.
“Discipline is not violence,” he said, adding that Article 1085 is an important cornerstone for parents to fulfill their responsibilities.
Education within the family should be the priority and not left up to schools, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said.
The government does not understand the viewpoint of most parents, as 70 percent of online poll respondents said they are opposed to the change, Lo said, adding that he would do the utmost to defend the parents’ stance if the bill is reviewed.
There are no parent representatives on the Executive Yuan’s team, Action Alliance on Basic Education chairman Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said.
The alliance’s online poll showed 70.4 percent of parents oppose the amendment and 89.5 percent of parents called for more resources in family education, Wang added.
The annual budget for family education is only NT$300 million (US$9.25 million), less than 0.1 percent of the total government budget, demonstrating how parents’ needs have been ignored, Wang said.
Current laws already distinguish between reasonable discipline and abusive behavior, he added.
Instead of the amendment, the government should mandate eight hours of parental leave a year for parents to participate in school activities and programs, increase funding for family educational centers and refer to international guidelines on how to prevent abuse, Hsiao said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
RSS