EXTINCTION: The government has said that Aboriginal languages are at risk of disappearing, but it still has not required them in school curricula, a union member said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 14, 2021
By: Chen Yun and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

An Aboriginal teachers’ union yesterday called for compulsory native-language education for all grades, in response to new curriculum guidelines that only mandate such classes until the ninth grade.

The Ministry of Education in a curriculum meeting on Saturday decided to make classes in “national languages” compulsory once per week for seventh and eighth-graders, after which it would become elective, although schools must still offer at least one class per week.

According to Article 9 of the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法), national-language classes are required “at all stages of compulsory education.”

The ministry has said that Aboriginal languages are at risk of disappearing, yet has decided not to require them in the secondary-school curriculum, Save Compulsory Ethnic-Language Secondary Education Aboriginal Teachers’ Union representative Yu Nien-hua (余年華) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.  [FULL  STORY]