Taipei Times
Date: Feb 17, 2016
By: Rachel Lin, Hung Tin-hung, Hsieh Chia-chun, Su Meng-chuan and / Staff reporters, with staff writer
Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) on Monday, in a closed-door
Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華). Photo from MOE web site.
meeting with city and county education heads, came under fire for pressuring elementary, junior-high and high schools to require students to sing the national anthem more frequently.
Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) confirmed that Wu had last month told the meeting’s participants that students should sing the national anthem more often and that schools in their jurisdictions should hold a flag-raising ceremony and have students sing the national anthem during this year’s commencement services, adding that Wu’s suggestion was “only a reminder from the ministry, not the meeting’s agenda.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was concerned with the practices concerning the national anthem at grade schools, sources said, adding that the Ministry of Education compiled a report on this issue for Ma.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) drew parallels between the incident and Ma’s supposed role in the controversial changes to textbook curriculum guidelines, saying: “The problem is not whether the national anthem should be sung on campus, but whether the president can overtly interfere with education for political ends.” [FULL STORY]
