Animal rights activists and legislators yesterday called on the Ministry of Education to teach students to respect animal rights.
Saying that textbooks for elementary and junior high students failed to teach respect for animals, the activists asked that the ministry amend its curriculum guidelines.
Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏), a representative of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan, told a press conference that a close examination of 159 elementary school textbooks and 23 junior high school textbooks showed that in most cases content taught students to “ignore, discriminate against, abuse and treat animals as lifeless items.”
For example, many textbooks require that students catch and raise insects in small boxes for observation while failing to require that teachers and students ensure the rights of the animals during and after the teaching activities, Chen said.
“A health and physical education textbook for fifth graders even carries a picture with a dog being forced to jump rope while another book used in arts classes for third graders contains a picture with a monkey whose head is covered by a bucket,” Chen said.
“Textbook content like this may be misleading and students could be tempted to imitate it when interacting with animals,” she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) urged the ministry to conduct a thorough review of textbook content before it spends funds promoting character building and moral education.
“There is no need for the ministry to spend about NT$900 million (US$27.4 million) promoting moral education,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said.
“[The ministry] simply has to promote environmental ethics because indifference to animals is the root of many problems,” Tien said.
In response, a Department of Elementary Education official surnamed Tsai said the ministry would invite animal rights advocates, publishers and the ministry’s textbook review panel to discuss the curriculum guidelines on Monday.
Tsai said that the ministry would also publicize a decennial review of the curriculum guidelines by the end of this year.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
RSS