The Ministry of Education yesterday introduced its revised curriculum guidelines for the primary and junior high schools' Nine-Year Education Program that provide a greater focus on "Taiwan-centered values" education.
The ministry publicized the first part of the revised guidelines covering five out of the seven fields of study, including language, social education, health and physical education, arts and literature and general studies.
The majority of the "Taiwan-centered" content is incorporated into the language and social education curriculum and will serve as guidelines for publishers designing textbooks that will be ready for use by 2005.
The Nine-Year Education Program is designed to combine and integrate the six-year elementary school program and three-year junior high school education program.
In the language field, the new guidelines aim to reinforce the study of local languages which include Minnan, Hakka and Aboriginal languages.
The revised curriculum stipulated that "in order to recognize Taiwan-centered individuality, the course objectives should focus on the learning of Chinese culture and custom as well as those of Tai-wan's various ethnic groups and other foreign cultures."
One previously announced change, turning "Local Literature" into "Taiwan Literature" -- has been strongly condemned by opposition parties, who accused the ministry of mixing political ideology with education.
Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (
"All over the world the names of great literatures -- such as American literature, Japanese literature or even Scandinavian literature -- are all labeled according to their geographic locations ? so we should do the same to define literature in Taiwan," he said yesterday.
"`Local Literature' is too ambiguous a term, which cannot fully represent the properties of all cultural diversities in Taiwan. We've approached this issue with meticulous care because we don't want people to misunderstand our rationale for changing it," Huang said.
According to the new guidelines the principles for teaching local languages and English include that "the material and methodologies should be based on the practical use of the language -- that the speaking and listening abilities are prior to the learning of reading and writing."
Social education classes will now emphasize Taiwan's historical development through changes in ideologies, cultural and social structures, economic activities and political movements.
Officials say the shift is aimed at "enhancing the students' understanding of Taiwan's important figures and social movements of the past, as well as present time."
The new social education curriculum is expected to boost students' knowledge about the characteristics of the Chinese culture past and present, as well as other major cultures in the world.
The guideline says the objective is to enable students to understand "Chinese historical development with relation to Taiwan, as well as Taiwan's current and past relations with other Asian countries and the world."
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS