The subsidy plan is helpful
Following Vice President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposal to subsidize students at private universities, which was initially to provide about NT$25,000 per student per year, the Executive Yuan has also broadened subsidies to make high school and vocational high schools free as well. The subsidy, which is to take effect on Feb. 1 next year, has been raised to NT$35,000 per year for each student attending a private college or university in Taiwan.
While some have called the Executive Yuan’s annual tuition subsidy plan “splurging,” and a vote-buying act for the 2024 presidential election, I do not agree. Whether it is making high school and vocational high schools free or subsidizing private university tuition, these are measures to reduce the general public’s financial burden. Even Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) supports the policy.
As the sub-replacement fertility has become increasingly severe — almost reaching to the point of a national crisis — one of the major reasons that put couples off having children is the continuous rise in the cost of education. Tuition is now alarmingly expensive, especially with private schools. Now that the government has proposed to lend a hand, policymakers across the political spectrum should be in full support instead of throwing cold water on the policy.
Former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) once famously said “never forget that the world has many sufferers,” while Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) proposed to have full government subsidies for children aged five and younger for one of his campaign promises.
As the Executive Yuan passed the act that would provide a NT$35,000 subsidy to students enrolled in private universities and full subsidies for high school and vocational high school students, policymakers and the public should appreciate the government’s altruism — a measure with the manner of “suffer what the people suffer” as Han used to say — to help families reduce the cost of their children’s education.
I have never understood why the government has always placed more importance on public schools than private schools, providing more subsidies to the former than the latter. Why do students who go to private schools always have to pay a lot more while getting the same level of education as public school students? This has resulted in a rather paradoxical situation: Children who are born in richer families usually attend public universities, while children of less affluent families attend private universities, resulting in an ever widening gap and class differences. The Executive Yuan’s policy is now seeking to remedy this inequality to push for better social justice.
Although Lu is from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), she knows the needs of the general public. From a maternal point of view, she fully endorses the policy as she finds it beneficial to her “children” citizens. As the Executive Yuan has come up with such a decent policy to promote people’s welfare and happiness, she is urging it to keep the policy going, to benefit tens of thousands of students to not end up as a flash in the pan.
Hu Yen
Taipei
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS