proposal to allow teaching in English in Taiwan high schools

Taiwan Headlines has a story taken from the Taiwan News: MOE to allow classes taught in English at senior high level.

The Ministry of Education has proposed that senior high schools here be allowed to offer courses taught in English, in an effort to help attract high-tech professionals back to Taiwan.

The policy is part of a draft amendment to the Senior High School Law that is scheduled to be sent to the Legislature for review by the end of this year.

If the Legislature passes the amendment, high schools are likely to hire an increasing number of foreign teachers….

While participating high schools could decide which courses are taught in English and which are taught in Chinese, they would still be required to submit the proposed curriculum to the ministry, which would have the final say, Chen said.

Bilingual courses have been implemented in some experimental elementary schools, junior high schools and universities in Taiwan. The extension of this kind of bilingual teaching to senior high schools would fill a gap in the local education system, the ministry said.

The existence of a consistent bilingual teaching program from the elementary to the university level would help attract sorely needed high-tech professionals, said Kuo Nein-hsiung, deputy director general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Industrial Development Bureau….

“While we can fill some of the spots from our own education system, there will still be a shortage of about 5,000 people,” Kuo said. “As the educational environment for children is of concern to high-tech employees, building a bilingual study environment would be an incentive to attract people to work in Taiwan.”

One principal who was interviewed, however, noted that schools are unlikely to be able to afford to hire foreign teachers.

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