Starting this semester, Hualien County is spearheading efforts to make compulsory education completely free by canceling charges for textbooks and other associated costs, such as application and maintenance fees, benefitting 35,000 elementary and junior-high school students.
The parent of a junior-high school student surnamed Yang (楊) said the policy should prompt other cities and counties to follow Hualien’s example, adding that compulsory education should be completely free anyway.
Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) said the policy was designed to help students in remote areas receive an equal opportunity to develop in a proper education environment.
Photo: Yang Yi-chung, Taipei Times
Last semester, the Hualien County Government initiated a program of free lunches for elementary and junior-high school students — a first in the country — and also set up a Web site to keep track of the policy’s implementation.
Fu said that canceling textbook fees and all other miscellaneous charges was in line with the spirit of Article 5 of the National Education Act (國民教育法) because making education completely free would help ensure social justice and equal education opportunities.
The county’s education office said offering a free education would save parents as much as NT$10,000 (US$344) a semester, meaning the county government would have to set aside NT$350 million to fund the project.
Asked why Hualien was spearheading the project, Fu said: “Some things need to be done.”
“It’s not whether it can be done or not, but whether you want to or not,” he said.
Hualien County has reduced some of its larger expenses to prevent raising its overall budget, while also making sure that educational resources are not neglected, Fu said.
Citing Article 164 of the Constitution, Fu said educational, scientific and cultural expenses should constitute no less than 15 percent of the central government’s budget. He said education expenses in Hualien County accounted for more than 41 percent of the county government’s total expenditure of NT$6.3 billion.
“All this to ensure that children in remote areas can grow up in an equal opportunity education environment,” Fu said.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
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