Taipei is to become the nation’s first city to abolish a rule observed by 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.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
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.
Citing examples of assignments elementary schools typically made students do during winter and summer vacations, which included “finish five books and write down your thoughts,” “help your mother with chores” and “write four pages of calligraphy,” Tang said that these types of tasks had not helped pupils develop independent thinking.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) touted the policy on Facebook.
Citing the adage “You are limited only by your imagination,” Ko said the policy would allow children to decide what they want to learn about and called on parents to encourage children to think about what they want to do during vacations.
“Taiwan has a very passive education system. Children are told what to do and what not to do until their ability to learn is amputated. The nation demanding that children with different aptitudes work on the same assignment is rather strange,” Ko said.
Netizens have responded favorably to the announcement.
A Facebook user named Alice Yu said: “Parents are happy because they no longer have to do winter and summer assignments for their kids.”
Another user, Liu Pei-yu (劉佩妤), recommended that parents encourage their children to use the Internet to search for information on tourist destinations and Taiwanese cuisine and guide them through trips during vacations, adding that parents can give children an allowance as a reward for their efforts.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS