The steady decline in the rate of children born in Chiayi County may drastically increase the number of “miniature” elementary schools in the county before resulting in the institution being phased out altogether, forcing parents to send their children to Chiayi City to complete that part of their education, local officials say.
According to the Chiayi County County Government’s most recent census, 3,130 children were born in the region last year, less than half the number recorded a decade ago.
The county’s young child ratio was 11.97 at the end of last year, one of the lowest in the nation, the county said.
The local government cited changes to modern economic environments, late marriages and growing unwillingness to marry or to have children after marriage as the main reasons for the declining birthrate, which has fallen in all years except 2012.
That year bucked the trend because it was the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac and, according to traditional beliefs, this made it an auspicious year for children to be born in.
The county government said that the local birthrate last year was just 5.89, far lower than the 8.91 figure for the nation, adding that the county’s birthrate was the second-lowest in the nation at No. 19, higher only than Keelung’s.
If more younger couples choose not to have children, the low number of new elementary school students would cause the number of mini-elementary schools to double since there would not be enough children to fill normal-sized institutions, the county government said.
The county government defines mini-elementary schools as those with less than 50 students. The county currently has 30 such schools.
A total of 3,338 new students were enrolled in elementary schools county-wide, 2,000 less than the total number of students graduating from elementary school, the county said, adding that of the 124 such institutions in the county, nearly 50 percent — 59 — had single-digit enrolment figures this year.
Nearly 5,000 students are set to finish elementary school next year and the county estimates that only 3,000 new students are to enrol by next year. It has forecast that in five years, this trend could see mini-elementary schools face a wave of closures due to lack of students.
In comparison, Chiayi City registered 2,548 elementary-school students as of May 23 this year, only 752 less than the number of students graduating, the Chiayi City Government’s Bureau of Education said.
There was also an increase of 107 students from last year’s enrolment total, the bureau said.
According to Chiu Chiu-chan (邱秋嬋), director of the bureau’s division of education, the number of first-grade classes in the city has increased to 100, in part to accommodate the teacher-to-student ratio policy in place since 2011 and also to accommodate the Chiayi County students who come to study in Chiayi City.
Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) expressed concern at the accelerating decline of newborns in the country and called on the younger generation to try harder to have families.
Chang expressed hope that the development of the Dapumei Industrial Park (大埔美工業區) and the Ma Chou Hou Industrial Park (馬稠後工業區) would encourage more of the local younger generation to return to the area to work, as this would boost the county and city’s birthrates, effectively slowing the problems of aging populations.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we