The National Teachers' Association (NTA 全國教師會) yesterday called on the incoming administration of President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to keep his campaign promise and improve the method for selecting senior high school principals.
Senior high school principals -- who were appointed directly by the government in the past -- are required to go through a selection process before they are appointed, following a revision to the Senior High School Law in July 1999.
The Ministry of Education is still working on the selection rules and has decided, in principle, that a single committee should be set up to select new heads for all schools where there are vacancies.
The NTA, however, has expressed strong opposition to the ministry's idea.
It has advocated setting up a selection committee for each school where a position falls vacant, an idea that got Chen's backing in the run-up to the presidential election.
Because of the likely Cabinet reshuffle after Chen's inauguration on May 20, the education ministry has held back on a final decision and will wait until the new administration is in place.
"This is the very first check on educational reform that the new government should cash," said Chang Chien-huang (
Chang said the open selection of school principals has been one of the key concepts for reform of the educational system.
Chang criticized the Ministry of Education's proposal as being of no help to the reform, because it denies the participation of teachers and parents and ignores the specific needs of individual schools.
"Each school has its own understanding as to what kind of principal it needs. Why don't we let their voices be heard?" Chang asked.
Under the NTA's proposal, each school with a vacancy would set up a committee consisting of teacher and parent representatives, as well as government officials, to select a principal who best meets the needs of the school.
"The principal is responsible for the realization of the school's educational philosophy," Chang said.
Responding to the NTA's appeal, DPP legislator Fan Sun-lu (
"We definitely won't rule out the possibility of accepting the NTA's proposal, but we believe an evaluation and review process is still needed," said Fan, a senior member of the legislature's Education Committee.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
RSS