Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday criticized a plan to phase out military instructors from schools by 2021, saying that it would increase security risks, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said the role of military instructors is overvalued and abused.
While universities can retire military instructors at their discretion, military instructors at high schools should stay, because their roles in handling bullies, drug abuse and psychological counseling cannot be filled by teachers or security guards, KMT Legislator Lee Yan-hsiu (李彥秀) told a news conference in Taipei.
The Legislative Yuan in 2013 passed a resolution to phase out all military instructors from schools within eight years.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) questioned the need for the phase-out, as universities have hired retired military instructors as security personnel.
“Military instructors are acceptable if they are not in uniform? What kind of logic is that?” Ko asked.
Ko said the removal of military instructors without proper supportive measures would “make parents anxious, while emboldening gangsters and drug dealers.”
KMT Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) said military instructors were assigned to schools during the Martial Law era to collect intelligence, but today there is no need to censor student activities.
There is a rigorous training and evaluation regime for the instructors, who are responsible for military training, campus security and counseling, retired military instructor Chin Su-Hsien (金肅賢) said at the KMT caucus’ news conference.
How would such duties be fulfilled if military instructors are phased out, Chin asked.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee that the education system is “addicted to” military instructors and has abused their services.
Military instructors are schools’ “iPhones,” as they are asked to fill multiple roles and are commonly overworked, she said.
“Military instructors are not all-powerful, but they are perceived as a role that cannot be done without. Undue praise of their functions shows that the education system has failed,” she said.
Schools have become dependent on military instructors because they have shifted too much responsibility to them, DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said.
The Ministry of Education retains a number of military instructors, so it should set an example before asking schools to retire them, Huang said.
Military instructors are recruited either from the military or from a special training program run by the ministry, DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said, asking whether they could be transferred to positions with the Ministry of National Defense.
The defense ministry said the instructors cannot be reassigned to military posts even if they have served in the military.
The education ministry should help the instructors gain promotion to the rank of major to entitle them to a life-time pension and help them seek employment opportunities after retirement, Chung said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS