Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之) yesterday said he would propose a bill that would mandate each municipality to establish at least one “referral school” with enhanced counseling resources to send problematic students.
The bill aims to “protect the lives and safety of the majority of students and their right to education,” Yeh said in a statement.
A budget would be allocated by the Ministry of Education to set up these “alternative schools” for students exhibiting aggressive behavior to provide relief, and protection for other students and teachers who are unable to handle them, Yeh said.
Photo: CNA
He made the announcement on the two-year anniversary of a teenager’s stabbing death at a junior high school in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城).
On Dec. 25, 2023, a female student surnamed Lin (林) went to another class to talk to her friends, where she got into an argument with a male student surnamed Yang (楊).
Lin solicited the support of a fellow male classmate surnamed Kuo (郭) and several others to argue with Yang.
Kuo then took out a switchblade and stabbed Yang several times in the chest and neck, killing him.
The New Taipei City juvenile court in October last year found Kuo and Lin guilty of murder, and handed them nine-year and eight-year prison terms respectively.
After an appeal, the High Court earlier this week upheld the conviction, and increased the sentences to 12 years and 11 years respectively.
“We have seen more frequent incidents in recent years of students assaulting teachers and beating up fellow students,” Yeh said.
“Teachers are gradually losing their authority, and are unable to rein in problem students,” he added.
“Schools cannot deal with these problem students and are unable to remove them from the classroom, even those already reprimanded with 10 major demerits, which some believe to be ‘badges of honor,’” he added.
Under current rules, schools are required to keep problematic students in their original classes, Yeh said.
The proposed bill would require expert evaluation of students who carry dangerous weapons, frequently practice bullying or physically assault teachers and classmates, and have no positive result after counseling.
“This is not to abandon these teenagers, but to place them into a more suitable learning environment,” he added.
The ministry would collaborate with civil society groups to set up these schools where problem students could continue to receive their education, while they would get funding to have social workers, psychologists, counselors and other professionals for enhanced supervision and personal guidance, Yeh said.
It aims to patch up loopholes in the “school safety net” so that bullying students would not continue to be a “blind spot” that no one dares to handle, he added.
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