TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A student group expressed opposition to Taiwan's bilingual education policy on Monday (May 15) amid the country's aim to become a bilingual nation by 2030.
The group, EdYouth, raised concerns that bilingual education hinders students from choosing a second language to learn, leading to a lack of willingness to learn and furthering the gap between rural and urban areas.
The group called for an immediate halt to bilingual education and urged the government to allocate the budget to the "108 curriculum" instead.
Additionally, the group requested that students be involved in major policy-making processes concerning the youth.
Taiwan also needs more bilingually qualified teachers, particularly in rural areas.
According to Wang Han-yang, director of the Student Parents Department of the Action Alliance on Basic Education, finding regular teachers in rural areas is challenging, and bilingual teachers are even scarcer.
Wang questioned whether teachers with bilingual abilities would choose to work in Taipei City or Taitung County first.
For instance, an elementary school in Taipei has only four bilingual teachers who oversee the entire lower grade, and each class has five bilingual classes per week. Also, there are only two qualified teachers in Ji'an Township, Hualien County, a rural area, he added.
Moreover, teachers have also voiced concerns about the lack of a unified curriculum, which challenges schools to develop lesson plans.
