Multiple education indicators in Taiwan outperformed global and East Asian averages across all levels of education in 2024, a report released by the Ministry of Education on Jan. 22 showed.
Taiwan’s education completion rates in 2024 stood at 100 percent for primary education, 99.69 percent for lower secondary education and 98.81 percent for upper secondary education, compared with global averages of 88.1 percent, 78.1 percent and 59.6 percent, respectively, the report said.
In East and Southeast Asia, the average completion rates were 98 percent for primary education, 90.7 percent for lower secondary education and 73.3 percent for upper secondary education, data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) showed.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
As for children who are over-age for their grade — defined as students who are at least two years older than the official age for their grade — Taiwan’s rates stood at 0.01 percent for primary education and 0.04 percent for lower secondary education. The figures were far below the global averages of 9.93 percent for primary education and 9.35 percent for lower secondary education, as well as the East and Southeast Asia averages of 3.8 percent and 5.73 percent, respectively.
Taiwan’s gross enrollment ratio for tertiary education reached 94.35 percent, compared with the global average of 43.61 percent and the East Asia average of 76.1 percent, data from the ministry and the UIS showed.
Gender equality in education is measured using the adjusted gender parity index (GPIA), which is calculated by dividing the female index value by the male index value.
A GPIA close to one indicates parity, with values above one reflecting higher female participation and values below one indicating higher male participation. Generally, a GPIA of 0.97 to 1.03 is considered to represent gender equality.
In Taiwan, the GPIA for education completion was 1.0 across primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education, indicating full gender parity. Taiwan’s GPIA for tertiary gross enrollment stood at 1.08, slightly below the global average of 1.12 and the East Asia average of 1.11.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS