Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) yesterday said that one of his greatest legacies is that education authorities at various levels have found no problems with the controversial curriculum guidelines.
Wu made the remark during his last question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, where lawmakers were discussing a proposal to abolish the controversial high-school history curriculum guidelines.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) asked Wu what achievements he was most proud of from his tenure as minister.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Wu said the Ministry of Education had “bravely” stood up to the problems created by changes to guidelines and that despite the vastly different political views held by different groups, he was glad that education officials were able to demonstrate solidarity and internal harmony, as “from central to local government levels, we did not see any problems related to controversial curriculum guidelines.”
Wu’s remarks drew criticism from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), who said that they were a far cry from the public’s understanding.
Rosalia Wu said that if the minister were to look himself up on the Chinese-language Wikipedia, he would see an entire section titled “Controversy on High School History Curriculum Guideline Alterations,” and she urged him not to dodge problems.
She said that had Wu Se-hwa’s bureaucrats not delayed communicating with protesters, who demonstrated last year from May until July, the students would not have breached the ministry compound in Taipei and the denouement where the ministry asked police to arrest students and pressed charges against them would not have occurred.
She asked him how he would respond to the protesters if he had a second chance.
Wu Se-hwa said he had attended a meeting with some of the protesters at National Taichung First Senior High School, where he saw that the students were being manipulated by “certain individuals.”
Rosalia Wu demanded that Wu Se-hwa name names, but the minister said: “I suggest that the Legislative Yuan establish a truth commission” to investigate possible instigators.
Rosalia Wu said the minister was not in a position to give orders to the incoming government of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), just as he earlier in the day urged the incoming Cabinet to propose a draft bill on reshuffling the curriculum guidelines review committee and suggested that legislators drop the issue until then.
“If you believe this is something that needs to be done, you should propose a draft bill now,” she said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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