Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A letter supposedly written by a student of Hsinchu Kuang-Fu High School, which has been under fire for its students playing the Nazis in a cosplay show on Dec 23, lashed out at President Tsai Ing-wen and the minister of education for not standing up to them and for bowing to the pressure of Israel and Germany over the cosplay theme, which the author thinks is guaranteed by the constitutional right of freedom of expression.

The German Institute Taipei and the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei have expressed disappointment and condemnation over the Nazi cosplay after it came to light.

Following the condemnation, the Office of the President ordered the authorities to investigate the school’s responsibilities over the incident and apologize to related countries. The Ministry of Education has said it will reduce subsidies to the school.

To take the responsibility for the incident, the president of the private high school, Cheng Hsiao-ming, has apologized to the public and tendered his resignation, pending the approval of the school’s chairperson, who is abroad at the moment.    [FULL  STORY]

COSPLAY FALLOUT:Cheng Hsiao-ming said he warned the students against using Nazi Germany as their parade’s theme, but later chose to respect their decision

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 26, 2016
By: Tsai Chang-sheng / Staff reporter

Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School principal Cheng Hsiao-ming (程曉銘) yesterday resigned over the

outrage caused by a cosplay event at the school on Friday, when some students wore Nazi uniforms and carried swastika banners.

In his letter of resignation, Cheng apologized to the public as well as to the victims of the Nazi regime for the disturbance and the anxiety caused by the parade.

Cheng said the school will today present a list of personnel accountable for the incident, including the administrators and homeroom instructor Liu Hsi-cheng (劉習正).
The list would not include students, the school said.

Cheng said that he should resign and be held responsible for the incident, adding that he will accept any punishment handed down by the Ministry of Education.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/24
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Chen Chih-chung, and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) The Presidential Office requested the Cabinet Saturday to hold accountable a

senior high school in northern Taiwan after its students wore Nazi uniforms and displayed swastika symbols at the school’s anniversary a day earlier.

Students from a class of the Hsinchu Kuang-Fu High School donned Nazi uniforms, wielded swastika flags and displayed German Tiger tanks made of paper cartons at a cosplay event.

“The responsibility of the education authorities is to teach students that peace and the values of a pluralistic society are not easily won, and free thinking must be built on justice and respect, not to leave them free to make improper words and deeds,” it said.

“The incident has shown that the need for education in transitional justice is urgent,” it said.

The Presidential Office asked the executive branch to make sure that the school reviews the incident, learns and strengthens related education, and apologizes to the countries persecuted by the Nazis.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 8, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The National Federation of Teachers Unions (NFTU) withdrew Wednesday from the

National Pension Reform Committee, accusing the government of failing to curtail “slander” being directed at public sector workers.

“We hold no expectations that the committee will be able to address the slander in the next stage of talks,” NFTU President Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said, adding that the organization would shift its efforts elsewhere, namely toward directly engaging the public and legislators.

Chang said the group’s decision to terminate its committee membership was not related to Saturday’s civil servant mass rally, which echoed similar concerns that the committee and the Democratic Progressive Party administration in general were scapegoating public employees for the government’s ballooning financial problems.

The NFTU’s sudden announcement comes a day before the National Pension Reform Committee would convene for the 12th time to enter the next stage of talks.     [FULL  STORY]

A total of 80 English teaching assistants will serve in schools in six locations around Taiwan this year.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/08
By: Samantha Kong

This month 80 young college graduates from American universities arrive in Taiwan to take up

positions for the coming academic year as English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in public schools. The initiative, sponsored by the Fulbright Program, began in 2000 with the assignment of just six teaching assistants, all in one location, Yilan County. The program has steadily expanded since then, and the current 80 ETAs will serve in schools in six counties and cities: Yilan, Kinmen, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taitung, and Taipei.

“The ETA program enables young Americans to come, interact, learn, and experience the culture by teaching,” says Kelly Chang, the program’s lead coordinator.

Taiwan has become one of the most popular destinations for participants in the 72 ETA programs worldwide. According to the U.S.-based Institute of International Education (IIE), which manages the Fulbright programs, Taiwan accounted for roughly 38% of all applications received this year for the 16 locations in the East-Asia Pacific region. “Taiwan is a great place and the word gets around,” explains William C. Vocke, Jr., executive director of the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan).     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A teachers’ union announced Wednesday it would no longer attend meetings of the presidential pension reform committee because it had lost all hope.

The move followed a protest last Saturday by more than 100,000 present and retired civil servants, including teachers and military, against President Tsai Ing-wen’s plans to reform the pension system in order to avoid bankruptcy.

Minister without Portfolio Lin Wan-yi, who chairs the reform committee, expressed regret at the decision by the National Federation of Teachers’ Unions and said he hoped the group could still contribute to the debate. The NFTU was opposed to the September 3 protest.

One of the complaints from the NFTU was that the committee’s previous 11 meetings were hardly efficient and showed too little progress on the issues. Lin promised that future discussions would move faster and stay closer to the core topics of pension reform.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 31, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Cabinet insisted Tuesday that students transfer from a Yunlin County school

over fears of toxic chemical exposure, despite a protest outside the Executive Yuan.

The order to transfer students was made due to fears about exposure to potentially hazardous pollution from the nearby Sixth Naptha Refinery operated by Formosa Plastic Group (FPG).

Hundreds of protestors had threatened to stay outside until the government provided convincing solutions.

Around 300 protesters wearing yellow headbands — many of them parents of students at the affected Ciaotou Elementary School’s Syucuo branch — arrived at the Executive Yuan from Maoliao Township on Tuesday morning.

Chanting “No school transfers! Return the right to education! Give us the truth!” they marched from a nearby location to the Executive Yuan’s main entrance.

They demanded the school transfer order be implemented only if authorities could provide concrete evidence that the campus’s location was harmful to students’ health.

Ten representatives of the protesters eventually secured a meeting with government officials, including Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) and Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Thomas Chan (詹順貴).     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-14
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The average monthly starting salary for new college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in Taiwan is NT$6,320 (US$197) less than their desired payroll of NT$34,760, according to a survey released Thursday.

Fresh university graduates who responded to the survey sought an average monthly salary of NT$34,760 for their first full-time job, but they actually received an average of NT$28,440, the survey conducted by the Grassroots Influence Culture and Education Foundation revealed.

Among them, the average starting salary for fresh graduates from national universities was NT$31,227, and NT$26,997 for new graduates from private universities.     [FULL  STORY]