8/7/15

News Release: Response to Issues Related to the New High-School Curricula Guidelines



Promoting the 12-Year National Basic Education program is one of the most important educational reforms in Taiwan, and one which the general public is giving extremely close attention. With this understanding in mind, we would like to emphasize once again that the Ministry of Education embraces the principles of diversification, professionalism, and a completely open and transparent process at all times when formulating new curricula guidelines.

When dealing with the current issues related to curricula guidelines, the Ministry of Education is taking the following actions in order to achieve our shared goals:

1.         Parallel use of both the old and the new textbooks.
2.         Controversial parts in either version of the textbooks will NOT be used as material for national tests.
3.         Auxiliary teaching materials addressing the differences between the old and new textbooks are being compiled.
4.         A review of curricula guidelines is being commissioned.
5.         A mechanism for regular communication is being established.
6.         We will ensure an open and transparent process for formulating curricula guidelines.

As always, the Ministry of Education works to implement every educational policy embracing the principles of moderation, creativity, professionalism, and pragmatism. We sincerely hope that our society will be able to face this current historical controversy with a positive attitude, and be able to appreciate and accept different viewpoints. We welcome and look forward to engaging in rational dialogue and discussion on issues related to curricula guidelines in a spirit of academic professionalism. And we hope that this will allow our education profession to once again generously embrace and reflect mutual respect.