Taiwan is planning to fund at least 60 high schools in providing bilingual courses next fall. That was the word from the education minister on Tuesday. Minister Pan Wen-chung also said there would be funding for over 200 high schools to conduct their English classes entirely in English.
These moves are part of Taiwan’s Bilingual Nation 2030 plan which aims to enable the younger generation to be bilingual. Many of Taiwan’s young professionals are highly skilled but lack good English speaking abilities. The goal of Bilingual Nation 2030 is to enable young people to be more competitive in the global market and to attract more foreign companies. National Development Council official Connie Chang made the remarks in a recent interview with RTI.
Chang said many global companies have come to Taiwan throughout the years but decided to open their headquarters in Singapore instead due to the lack of strong English skills among Taiwan’s professionals. The government wants to change this trend with its Bilingual Nation 2030 plan.
The plan includes having benchmark schools that provide high level training in English, upgrading the English abilities of the general student population and offering bilingual instruction in a wide range of subjects at selected schools. Pan said that by 2024, he wants to see at least 60% of all public schools throughout Taiwan holding English classes entirely in English and one in seven schools conducting bilingual education in their schools.