Tamkang University in Tamsui (淡水), Taipei County, yesterday became the first university in the world to be granted “international safe school” status — a designation aimed at enhancing safety awareness and education — by a WHO-affiliated organization.
Max Vosskuhler, chairman of the International Safe Schools Committee, said at a designation ceremony in Taipei yesterday that Tamkang was the world’s first university to have “put the package of safety and health together.”
The International Safe Schools Designation Program is a project of the Peaceful Resources Center, an Affiliate Safe Community Support Center for the WHO’s Collaborating Center on Community Safety Promotion.
“This university has led the way in becoming the first international safe school with a persistent commitment to its students, faculty and everybody in their community to promote safety,” he said.
Vosskuhler said the university had met all seven requirements during the committee’s evaluation, including having a school committee responsible for making decisions for safety at the school, implementing safety policies for all groups at the university and a commitment to sharing the school’s experience with local, national and international schools.
“Signing the agreement [between the university and the committee] does not mean that a school is 100 percent safe,” he said. “[The recognition] signifies commitment of the organization to become safer.”
Figures provided by the university show some 50 schools worldwide have won international safe school status or are being reviewed by the International Safe Schools Committee.
Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲), a professor at National Dong Hwa University who plays a key role in the Taiwan International Safe Schools Promotion Center, said Vosskuhler and other International Safe Schools Committee members would over the next few days inspect Taiwanese primary and junior high schools that had applied for the designation.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
RSS