At least nine of the nation’s universities have tightened campus access to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
They allow only faculty, administrative staff, students and visitors with permits to enter their campuses, university officials said.
The universities are: National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, National Chengchi University, Chinese Culture University, National Taipei University and Shih Hsin University in Taipei; Fu Jen Catholic University and Tamkang University in New Taipei City; and Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Culture University
Separately yesterday, lawmakers called on the Ministry of Education to supervise schools more robustly to ensure that students have adequate e-learning resources after a number of high-school and university students were confirmed to have been infected.
Eighteen percent of students below high-school level in Kaohsiung have no Internet access, and the ratio is 15 percent in Taoyuan, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
In areas outside the six special municipalities, 28 percent of students below high-school level in Taitung County have no Internet access, 27 percent in Chiayi County, 18 percent in Pingtung County and 17 percent in Hualien County, Lin said, citing a ministry report.
“I was extremely shocked when I saw the numbers,” she said.
K-12 Education Administration Director-General Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) said that 32,000 15-day prepaid cards with Internet access have been prepared for economically disadvantaged students in a collaboration between the ministry and the nation’s five telecoms.
The ministry is also investigating the number of mobile devices available for people who need access to remote learning, Peng said, adding that as of yesterday, the ministry and education bureaus nationwide could offer offer 76,000 tablet computers.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS