Taiwan Today

The Republic of China will enter upon a new era of education this fall with extension of the period of free schooling from six to nine years. In East Asia, only Japan has previously included the junior high school years in its program of free education.

China's objectives are to cultivate a healthier younger generation by eliminating the enervating competition of the junior high school entrance examinations, to assure a labor force of higher academic stature and thereby serve the nation's economic reconstruction, and to raise the level of training for good citizenship.

Education officials are confident of implementing the nine-year plan with total success. Experimental projects have been carried out on Taiwan and the offshore islands of Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu without serious difficulties. The first laboratories were in Hsinchu county of northern Taiwan and Kaohsiung county in the south. Beginning in 1956, some 70 per cent of primary school graduates in the two counties were promoted to the nearest junior high schools without entrance examinations. Cramming sessions formerly conducted from the fourth through sixth grades were dropped. With no exams to take, the extra study had no purpose. Pupils had more time for sports and play. There was a notable increase in average height and weight. Myopia and astigmatism declined sharply. The experiments carried out on Kinmen since 1964 and subsequently on Matsu reflected similar results.

The Republic of China's six-year free schooling program has been in progress since the end of World War II in accordance with Article 160 of the Constitution which provides: "All children aged from 6 to 12 years shall receive free primary education." In Taiwan, the six-year plan goes back to 1937 during the Japanese period. However, when the island was restored to the Republic of China in 1945, less than 80 per cent of children in the 6-12 bracket were attending school. Today's figure is 97 per cent and illiteracy has dropped from 17 to 6.4 per cent.

To bring the new nine years of free education into being, the Executive Yuan (cabinet) drafted a special law last year at the suggestion of the National Security Council, the nation's highest policymaking body. This was quickly approved by the Legislative Yuan (parliament) and promulgated by President Chiang Kai-shek.

An eight-member ad hoc committee was set up in the Executive Yuan with former Minister of Education Chen Hsueh-ping as the convenor. The Committee concentrated its study on these problems: financing, recruitment of teachers, building of new schools, revision of textbooks, and demarcation of school districts.

The committee estimates the cost at US$90 million in the next three years. The breakdown is US$19 million for the special municipality of Taipei and US$71 million for the rest of Taiwan. Of the provincial budget, US$7½ million will come from the Central Government and US$15 million from the Sino-American Fund for Social and Economic Development. The Taipei Municipal Government will use US$10 million of the city's social welfare funds and receive a grant of US$2.4 million from the Sino-American Fund. The rest of the financing will come from the tax revenues of provincial and municipal governments and increased tuition at public senior high schools and colleges.

Primary school pupils have been receiving textbooks free of charge. Textbooks of primary and junior high schools have been revised to meet the needs of the integrated nine-year system. To lighten the government's financial burden, students will be required to pay for their new books.

The 8th and 9th graders of 1968 and the 9th graders of 1969 will continue to pay tuition. For a school year, charges amount to about US$50 for tuition, textbooks, laboratory expenses and miscellaneous charges. Seventh graders of this year will pay all costs except tuition.

In the last few years, nearly 60 per cent of primary school graduates have continued their schooling. A recent survey indicates that 80 per cent of those graduating this summer will go on to junior high and that the figure for next year will be 86 per cent.

Based on the survey, 1970 enrollment in junior high schools will total 1.1 million, more than two times the present number. More than 600 schools will be needed. Taiwan already has 297 junior high schools, 42 of them private. One-hundred and forty-two new schools will be ready for the fall semester and 238 more will be opened in the next two years.

About half of the private schools will be requisitioned. The government will pay US$2,125 for each classroom per year, including teachers' salaries and facilities. If the unrequisitioned schools lack for students, they may be reorganized into senior high schools.

Junior high and vocational schools graduated 135,568 students last year. Seventy-nine per cent went on to senior high, senior vocational schools and five-year junior colleges. To mitigate the demand for college education, the government is strengthening vocational schools.

Taiwan had 18,000 junior high teachers for the 1967-68 school year. To man the new classes, 6,500 teachers will be added this fall and 15,500 more in the next two years. The largest source of supply is the National Taiwan Normal University. But NTNU graduates only about 1,000 teachers annually. The remaining vacancies are being filled by graduates of other colleges and universities after a period of orientation and teacher training.

To meet the increasing demand for high school teachers, the Kaohsiung Girls' Normal School was reorganized as a teachers' college last year. Students at other institutions of higher learning will be granted a teaching license after completing 16 semester units of courses in education.

In implementing the new system, emphasis is to be placed on quality as well as numbers. To strengthen faculties, the Ministry of Education will sponsor the following summer training sessions beginning this year:

1. Leadership seminar: Principals and administrators of junior high schools will be given a week's refresher training in school administration.

2. Guidance activity orientation: College graduates majoring in education, psychology and the humanities will be assigned as student counselors after finishing two months of orientation in guidance activity. They will help measure students' talents and aptitudes for schooling or career.

3. Licensing training: This program is for incumbent teachers who are not accredited. They will be granted a license after completing 16 units of education courses in two months.

4. In-service training: Licensed teachers will be given a week's orientation in modern educational methods.

These sessions will be held at the National Chengchi University and the National Taiwan Normal University during the summers of 1968, 1969 and 1970. There will be about 3,000 trainees per summer.

Primary school pupils will spend from 20 to 30 hours a week in the classroom and junior high students from 31 to 35 hours under the nine-year program. Details of the curricula are given in the accompanying tables.

Textbooks for primary schools are compiled by the Ministry of Education. Junior high schools may choose any texts approved by the Ministry except for courses in Civics, Chinese, History and Geography.

The ad hoc committee sent 453 questionnaires to schools and specialists last September to ask comments on the old textbooks. Most respondents were in favor of overall revision. With a US$5 million fund from the government, the committee invited 260 educators, teachers and government officials to undertake the revision. Emphasis is being placed on the maintenance of traditional Chinese morality, development of scientific knowledge and introduction to vocations. Completion of all the new books is expected in 1970.

Except for home economics, vocational courses are new to students of academic junior high schools. Courses are being added to assure some preparation for work by graduates who do not want to go on to senior high or who do not pass the examination.

Vocational orientation will be a compulsory course for 8th graders. Teachers and counselors will help them discover aptitudes and interests. In the 9th grade, students may elect to take one or more specialized courses. Teachers will encourage students who are not academically inclined to point their efforts toward vocational schools or five-year junior colleges. Those who expect to continue schooling in academic senior high will concentrate their efforts on English, science and other traditional studies.

Student counseling will be new to Chinese high schools. In addition to helping with vocational orientaion, counselors will sponsor group activities, assist students in solving study and personal problems, and visit homes.

Previously there have been no junior high school districts in Taiwan. Primary school graduates have been free to apply to the schools of their preference. This led to fierce competition for admission to old prestigious schools. Many parents sent their children to "good schools" far from their homes, often as boarding students.

From now on, primary graduates will be assigned to a junior high school in their own district. Transfers will not be permitted except when the whole family moves.

School districts will be demarcated in the light of the administrative area, population, community development, transportation and density of primary schools. A total of 467 districts is being established for the first year and 43 more will be added in the next two years.

Since the removal of its seat to Taipei in 1949, the government of the Republic of China has carried out a series of military, political, economic and social renovations. In view of past achievement, there seems no doubt that nine-year free education - the biggest pedagogic undertaking so far - will be an unqualified success.