The National Federation of Teachers Unions (NFTU) has revealed Taiwan’s 2023 top 10 education news stories and says issues relating to bilingual policy rank top of the list.
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The National Federation of Teachers Unions (NFTU) revealed the top news stories relating to education throughout 2023 on Tuesday, with the top spot going to the continuous scrutiny of the bilingual policy by the presidential candidates.
Taiwan’s Bilingual 2030 policy concerns have ranked among the top ten education news headlines in Taiwan for two consecutive years. The policy was approved by the Cabinet in 2018 with the goal of raising English proficiency among the public to develop Taiwan into a bilingual nation by 2030.
NFTU President Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) highlighted the Bilingual 2030 policy's challenges saying that the policy itself is very complicated, he also emphasized the impact on other language courses like Hakka and indigenous languages, which he says have been changed because of the need for English. Hou says the hope is to bring Taiwan's education scene back to a multilingual environment that is English-friendly.
Additionally, issues relating to the inadequate handling mechanism for unfit teachers made it to number two. Ranked third is the issue of presidential candidates' campaign promises to give more benefits, especially for private schools and higher education without considering the limitations to the overall national budget.
Other topics included in the top ten education news included pension fund allocation issues, special education law amendments, and substitute teacher rights, which have also been on the list for two consecutive years.