Nearly 70 percent of junior high school students said they have been taught with alternate "reference" books in class despite a ban on such publications, a recent poll showed.
“This result indicates abnormalities in our education system, as ‘credentialism’ is still hurting Taiwan’s junior high students,” Shih Ying (史英), chairman of the Humanistic Education Foundation, told a press conference yesterday.
Presenting the results of a foundation survey that polled 1,433 students in 299 junior high schools nationwide, Shih said 69.94 percent of respondents had been taught with unauthorized reference books, which present course material in a way that makes it easier for students to prepare for tests.
BANNED
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has prohibited elementary and junior high school teachers from using reference publications to teach and test students since 1989, Shih said.
“In addition, an overwhelming 97.38 percent of the respondents said that their schools were using the unauthorized books,” the chairman said.
Shih attributed the rampant use of the reference books to an education system that is too focused on passing entrance examinations, which junior high school students must take to enter high school.
Meanwhile, Shih said 89.39 percent of students said that their teachers have used unauthorized test prep sheets to help students score better on the exams.
SACK 'EM
“Teachers who have violated the ban should be sacked, while the school principals who tolerate such conduct should also leave their posts,” said Shih, who is also a mathematics professor at National Taiwan University.
The foundation will invite students and their parents to organize a monitoring group to help normalize the education system.
The poll was conducted between May 15 and June 10.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS