Education Minister Pan Wen-chung has announced that controversial guidelines for Taiwan’s high school curriculum are to be scrapped.
Pan made the announcement at a press conference on Saturday. The announcement is Pan’s first major act since he assumed his post as education minister on Friday.
The controversial guidelines applied to social studies and Chinese literature and composition courses taught in Taiwan’s high schools. Students, teachers’ groups, and activists had protested against the guidelines after the education ministry approved them in 2014.
Critics argued that they were China-centric and were not approved in a transparent way. Points of contention included changes of wording in reference to Japan's 50 year rule over Taiwan. The guidelines’ treatment of the highly sensitive White Terror era also proved controversial.
The Legislature voted to repeal the new guidelines on April 29. At Saturday's press conference, Pan said that the education ministry will abolish the guidelines in line with the Legislature's decision. However, Pan said schools that have already switched to new textbooks based on the guidelines may continue using them until the end of the semester.