The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday again called for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to abolish its adjustment to the high-school curriculum and disclose the process of how the adjustment was made, as well as the complete list of members of the task force.
The party was referring to the ministry’s plan to revise the nation’s high-school curriculum. When the revisions are implemented in September next year at the beginning of the academic year, among the major changes will be the addition of the word “mainland” in references to China in Chinese-language history textbooks and the 50-year period of Japanese rule over Taiwan would be referred to as “Japanese colonial rule.”
The DPP said that it passed a resolution on Wednesday that the six DPP-governed cities and counties — Greater Kaohsiung, Greater Tainan, Yilan County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County and Pingtung County — would boycott the revised curriculum.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Citing the “massive rather than slight” changes as attempting to do away with Taiwanese identity, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a press conference that the ministry’s policy is “simply unacceptable.”
The party would collaborate with civic groups and academics to protest the revisions and pressure the ministry in the upcoming legislative session if it does not rescind the changes, Lin added.
Lin also cited the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) when saying that the ministry had conducted the “hasty” review in secret and that it is legally bound to disclose the decisionmaking process of policy changes to the public.
Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) said the adjustment was proposed less than two years after the implementation of the current curriculum, four years shorter than the legally regulated implementation period of six years, and that it “betrays Taiwan-centered historical perspective and objective facts.”
Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) urged the government to seek a consensus on the changes.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) demanded that the ministry halt the policy, saying that the curriculum adjustment “has been more of a ‘de-Japanization’ and ‘de-Taiwanization’ than anything else.”
Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) does not respect Taiwan’s history, Chen told a press conference, adding that if Chiang wanted de-Taiwanization, he “might as well be China’s education minister.”
Additional reporting by CNA
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