The government has over the past five years shown “indifference” to the development of the nation’s sports industry, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-affiliated National Policy Foundation said yesterday.
Kao Yuang-kuang (高永光), convener of the foundation’s Education, Culture and Sports Division, made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei held by the foundation to discuss the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policies on education, culture and sports, as the five-year anniversary of the president’s first inauguration is on Thursday next week.
Although Tsai in 2016 said that she planned to double the government’s sports budget to NT$16 billion
Bilingual lessons from Singapore
By Lin Po-kuan 林柏寬
The Taipei City Government recently announced a new round of junior-high school teacher recruitment for the next academic year. Despite the limited number of openings, the available positions for bilingual teachers in eight subjects was 60, almost the same as for regular teachers, 66.
For example, in music, life technology and information technology, there were openings for regular and bilingual teachers, who would teach in English and Chinese. There were 12 vacancies for bilingual physical education teachers, but how would such teachers help improve students’ physical fitness?
The government has pledged to turn Taiwan into a “bilingual nation” by 2030, hoping to equip students with better international competitiveness by improving their English ability. This is a good policy, but it might help to look at a nearby multilingual country: Singapore.