Amendments to the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) were passed by a legislative committee on Thursday, following discussions to resolve some legislators’ concerns regarding one of the amendments.
An earlier version of the amendments passed on Thursday last week stipulated that “School principals and faculty members must not engage in behavior that violates professional ethics related to sex or gender.” It stipulated that if the circumstances of a violation are serious, the offender could be suspended from teaching for life.
Critics said amendments unconstitutionally targeted teacher-student relationships. In response, the Ministry of Education said that the law aims to prevent abuse of power leading to violations of students’ rights.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
In the version passed on Thursday, it stipulates that it is unlawful for educators to engage in relationships with students established through abuse of power, but not inherently illegal for students and educators to have romantic relationships “if the student is an adult and the relationship is mutually consensual.”
There was never any disagreement among lawmakers that the law should prevent sex with underage students, Department of Student Affairs and Special Education Director Wu Lin-hui (吳林輝) said.
However, even in cases of adult students, the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that those who provide students with “evaluations, guidance, training, counseling or job opportunities” do not engage in sexual activity with them that violate professional ethics or students’ rights, he said.
The amendment also raises fines for violations under the act up to three times more than the fines for non-educators.
Meanwhile, disagreements between cross-party legislators over five of the proposed amendments remain, and those amendments are to be shelved for future discussion.
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said he expects the amended law to be implemented by March 8 next year if the draft amendments could clear the legislature by this current provisional session, which runs until July 31.
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