Education

Fablab Taipei promotes maker culture

Taiwan Today
Date: December 24, 2015

Fablab Taipei, the latest government initiative aimed at spurring

Premier Mao Chi-kuo (center) is joined by MOE Minister Wu Se-hwa (fourth left) while inaugurating Fablab Taipei Dec. 23. (Courtesy of the Executive Yuan)

innovative entrepreneurship in Taiwan, was launched by the Cabinet Dec. 23 at the Taiwan Air Force, the site of the former ROC Air Force headquarters, in the northern Taiwan metropolis.

“In a new global economy powered by creativity and innovation instead of cost and efficiency, the facility will integrate public and private-sector resources to foster next-generation talents to drive Taiwan’s development,” Premier Mao Chi-kuo said during the inauguration ceremony.

“Fablab Taipei will be a primary venue for promoting open learning among Taiwan’s youth and initiating exchanges between local makers and their global counterparts,” he said. The Taiwan Makers Association said Taiwan is the 80th country in the world to provide such a facility. [FULL STORY]

MOE high school education forum concludes in Taipei

Taiwan Today
Date: December 21, 2015

A Ministry of Education-staged secondary school forum wrapped up Dec. 20

Participants in an MOE-hosted secondary school forum give the thumbs-up to enhanced communication on key education issues Dec. 20 in Taipei City. (Courtesy of MOE)

in Taipei City, further expanding communication channels between the government and students.

The two-day event brought together 20 experts, officials and teachers, as well as 100 high school and vocational students, from around Taiwan to discuss the key topics of career and curriculum planning, civic awareness and social participation, multiculturalism and globalization, and smart life solutions and technology development.

Education Minister Wu Se-hwa said the forum serves as a valuable platform for students to voice different opinions. “It also helps them develop independent thinking and glimpse their potential on the road to a bright future.”

Echoing Wu’s remarks, Huang Tzu-teng, director-general of K-12 Education Administration under the MOE, said the forum breaks down the barriers to intergenerational dialogue. “By springboarding off this positive collaboration, we hope to draft policies more in line with the expectations of students.” [FULL STORY]

Technology university eyes Southeast Asia, Africa for students

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/20
By: Hsu Chih-wei and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) With international students accounting for 11.44 percent of its graduate student pool, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) is hoping to attract more foreign students, especially those from Southeast Asia and Africa, according to the university’s president.

Liao Ching-jong (廖慶榮) said Dec.16 that considering the impact of the declining birth rate in recent decades on university enrollment, NTUST has been aiming at recruiting international graduate students and currently has 469 enrolled from abroad.

Nearly 30 percent of the courses offered by the university are taught in English, with some departments providing more than 60 percent of them in English, Liao said.

The top source of international students is Indonesia, followed by Vietnam and Ethiopia, Liao added. [FULL STORY]

Taipei plans to abolish vacation assignment rule

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 19, 2015
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Taipei is to become the nation’s first city to abolish a rule observed by

A boy in Hualien yesterday plays a prank on a girl focused on her homework. Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times

elementary schools since 1975 that asks students to work on school assignments during their summer and winter vacations.

The Taipei Department of Education yesterday announced that it had abolished a set of guidelines covering assignments that elementary schools give pupils before they go on summer and winter vacations.

Starting next year, pupils at elementary schools across the city are not to have assignments during summer and winter vaction, the department said.

Department Commissioner Tang Chih-min (湯志民) said the cancelation of the assignments would help to create a “student-oriented” learning environment, thereby helping pupils to cultivate independent thinking. [FULL STORY]

Chu to expand preschool subsidy system if elected

IT’S THE ECONOMY:The KMT’s presidential candidate said most young couples put off parenthood for financial reasons, as they are worried over expensive preschooling

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 16, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday proposed expanding kindergarten subsidies to cover children aged between three and five years old, as part of his efforts to assuage the nation’s dwindling birth rate.

“Taiwan’s declining birth rate is primarily attributed to the rising financial burden on young couples, which is why we must address the problem by increasing educational subsidies,” Chu told a forum held at the KMT headquarters yesterday morning to unveil his educational platform.

In a country that has a 3:7 ratio of public to private kindergartens, most young couples put off parenthood for economic reasons, Chu said.

Chu said that if elected, he would increase the education budget from 22.5 percent of the nation’s average net annual revenue to 23.5 percent, to fund his policy of lowering the minimum age limit for the government’s preschool subsidies from five to three. [FULL STORY]

Students abandon curriculum meeting

UNANIMOUS WITHDRAWAL:The ministry’s reluctance to improve data transparency shows that it is not serious about addressing students’ concerns, one student said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2015
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Students who participated in a so-called “expert consultation meeting” yesterday to review

Students who participated in an “expert consultation meeting” at National Taiwan Normal University yesterday protest outside the venue after withdrawing from the meeting in protest of what they said was the Ministry of Education’s attempt to downplay controversy. Photo: Wu Po-hsuen, Taipei Times

issues surrounding controversial history curriculum changes unanimously withdrew from the meeting venue in protest of what they said was the Ministry of Education’s attempt to downplay the controversy.

The meeting, held at the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, was arranged at the order of the Executive Yuan in compliance with an agreement reached among lawmakers during cross-caucus negotiations in early August in the wake of student-led protests against what they called China-centric history curriculum guidelines.

The meeting was attended by six students, who unanimously withdrew from the scene shortly after proceedings began.

Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science student Yu Teng-chieh (游騰傑) said the ministry delayed publishing the minutes taken during previous meetings to design and review the curriculum guidelines. [FULL STORY]

Students boycott ‘outdated’ anthem

PROPAGANDA PIECE:National Chengchi University’s anthem, written in the 1940s by a Chinese Nationalist Party member, has survived nine attempts to abolish it

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2015
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

National Chengchi University students yesterday boycotted the university’s controversial

Chengchi University students attending a protest at the school yesterday to demand that the school anthem be abandoned because it contains the words “my party” and “revolution,” which they say are outdated. Photo provided by Lin Pei-yu

school anthem at the university’s Culture Cup choir competition, in which the school anthem is a required song.

The school anthem’s lyrics, panned by critics as a propaganda piece for “party-state ideology,” was written in the 1940s by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Chen Kuo-fu (陳國府) and contains passages such as: “Implementing the Three Principles of the People is our party’s mission,” and “Building the Republic of China is our party’s responsibility.”

At least four departmental choirs boycotted the school anthem by singing a vowel in lieu of certain lyrics, or by not singing at all. One department’s choir omitted the word “party” from its rendition of the anthem.

Several choirs held banners bearing the slogan, “Hey, give us back the school anthem we made,” referring to an alternative anthem that the university’s administration rejected. [FULL STORY]

Taoyuan City Council calls for Ting Hsin school ban

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taoyuan City Council decided Friday to bar

Taoyuan City Council calls for Ting Hsin school ban. Central News Agency

products from controversial food group Ting Hsin International from its schools.

The announcement came a week after the company’s former chairman, Wei Ying-chung, was unexpectedly found not guilty in an adulterated oil scandal dating back to last year. Just as the original case, the verdict by the Changhua District Court touched off a nationwide furor.

The Taoyuan City Council passed a resolution Friday calling on the city’s education department to keep a close look on breakfasts and lunches provided at schools and to make sure that none of the suppliers used Ting Hsin products. The company produces some major brands of cooking oil, dairy products and fruit juices. [FULL STORY]

GM food ban in schools passes first legislative review

Taiwan Today
Date: December 1, 2015

The first review of a draft bill amending Taiwan’s School Health Act to prohibit

An amendment currently under review at the Legislature would ban genetically modified foods from educational institutions at all levels across the nation. (Courtesy of New Taipei City Government)

genetically modified foods from local campuses passed the Legislature Nov. 30 in Taipei City.

Under the regulations, GM ingredients or processed foods containing such produce would be banned from educational institutions at all levels across the nation. The prohibited items would include generic GM soybeans and derivatives such as bean curd, soy milk and tofu.

“The Ministry of Education will join hands with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to plan ahead accordingly,” Education Minister Wu Se-hwa said in response to the proposed amendment. [FULL STORY]

Bill banning GM foods at schools passes first review

Focus Taiwan
Date:2015/11/30
By: Hsu Chih-wei and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Monday passed an initial review of

amendments to the School Health Act that would prohibit vendors from supplying schools with genetically modified food ingredients or processed foods with such ingredients.

The amendments still have to pass two more readings before they become law.

Education Minister Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) told reporters that his ministry is very concerned about students’ health and has encouraged schools to prioritize the use of locally grown farm produce and food ingredients.

Wu said many schools are promoting agro-food education or food and farming education and encouraging students to grow vegetables and fruit, which is in line with the concept of good health. [FULL STORY]

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