The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday said it would enforce the closure of Yung Ta Institute of Technology and Commerce if it fails to inform the ministry of its shutdown by Jan. 8.
Former school employees yesterday protested outside the Executive Yuan and the ministry, accusing the ministry of failing in its duties and calling for the school to compensate them for salary owed, severance payments and civil servant insurance payouts.
The ministry received court approval to disband the school’s board of directors on Aug 29, after applying in March, on grounds that the school, in Pingtung County’s Linluo Township (麟洛), had breached Article 25 of the Private School Act (私立學校法) and had stopped paying its former faculty members’ monthly pensions.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
However, the school’s board appealed the decision, leaving the case — along with obligations to pay former staff and faculty — hanging in the air.
Department of Technological and Vocational Education official Eric Ker (柯今尉) yesterday said that he had accepted a petition from the protesters.
The ministry said it would uphold the rights of former faculty and staff in the event of forced closure.
The school faced financial difficulties in 2013 and in the next year it applied to the ministry, and failed to obtain, approval to downsize.
In August 2014, the institute said it could not sustain employees and faculty without income from student enrollments, as the ministry had imposed a no-enrollment order on the university and declared that it was shutting down.
However, it said that it was considering transitioning into a junior college.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from