One such hub operated by New Taipei City Government, the administrative authority for much of the country’s northern coastline, is the Marine Education Resource Center (MERC) at Hemei Elementary School (HES) in the city’s coastal Gongliao District. The school is renowned for holding distinctive graduation ceremonies in which pupils dive into nearby waters at Longdong Bay to retrieve their diplomas.
HES enjoys an additional role as a regional center of marine education. (Staff photo/Pang Chia-shan)
This past November saw MERC’s annual marine knowledge competition take place at New Taipei’s Kuangfu Elementary School, with 180 fifth and sixth grade students and teachers from the city’s 24 schools attending. Launched in 2013, the event embodies NTCG’s motto of “ocean in life, life in ocean” inspired by the Executive Yuan’s Salute to the Seas policy introduced in 2020, as well as U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 14, which promotes conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, according to the NTCG’s Education Department (ED).
Speaking at the competition, HES Principal Chang Li-chiu praised the young contestants for their enthusiasm and teamwork. They are blessed with a hometown featuring extended shorelines with a variety of landforms including sand and gravel beaches, intertidal wetlands and striking coastal rock formations, she said, adding that local students’ natural links with the sea can be deepened by acquiring and applying environmental knowledge in everyday life.
HES Principal Chang Li-chiu (second left) chats with pupils on campus. (Staff photo/Pang Chia-shan)
Chang is executive secretary of MERC, which operates under NTCG’s marine education taskforce comprising ED officials, scholars, school administrators and teachers as well as representatives from National Museum of Marine Science and Technology. For Chang, the museum in the northern port city of Keelung provides an ideal venue for MERC’s forums and training programs tailored for educators.
With resources provided by HES and other local government centers, guidance from the Ministry of Education and help from nongovernmental organizations, marine education programs are gaining momentum and play an instrumental role in shaping Taiwan into a true ocean state. (E) (By Pat Gao)
National Museum of Marine Science and Technology in the northern port city of Keelung provides an ideal venue for MERC’s forums and training programs for educators. (Staff photo/Chen Mei-ling)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw
(This article is adapted from “Marine Learning” in the January/February issue of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)