City government steps up disease prevention measures
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Taipei City Government yesterday raised the alert level for COVID-19, with tighter disease prevention measures going into effect, after six locally transmitted cases with unknown infection sources were reported in New Taipei City and Yilan County.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that large outdoor events with more than 500 people and indoor events with more 100 people would be canceled.
Event organizers have to obtain approval if they want to push through with the event, but participants must wear a mask at all times, are banned from eating and drinking, and must practice social distancing, he said.
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CECC delays start of school semester
SAFETY FIRST: As the semester was to start only two days after the Lunar New Year holiday, the ministry postponed it so that schools have time to disinfect their campuses
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced that the first day of the new semester would be postponed to at least Feb. 22, so that schools would have more time to disinfect their campuses and prepare COVID-19 prevention measures.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the global spread of COVID-19 has slowed slightly, but the situation remains serious, so people should still practice personal protection measures.
Education policy has blind spots
By Wang
Yen-huang 王延煌
The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement has released the results of the quadrennial Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
There was not much change in the results for Taiwan, as students scored high in learning achievement, but low in learning attitude toward mathematics and science, and their sense of alienation toward mathematics and science was higher than the average.
Faced with the results, the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration simply responded that “students in high-performing countries tend to feel a sense of alienation toward learning,” without offering any further background analysis, which was a pity.