Teachers at private institutions call for protection of rights

By Lii Wen  /  Staff reporter

Mon, Apr 27, 2015 - Page 3

Teachers’ advocacy groups yesterday urged the Ministry of Education to better protect the labor rights of teachers at private institutions.

The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions said that private-school teachers are often stripped of their rights to unionize, making them more vulnerable to exploitation than their counterparts in public institutions.

The group said that teachers at private institutions are increasingly facing unreasonable demands from their employers, amid a dwindling national birth rate and decreasing attendance at private institutions.

Teachers at private institutions are often barred from applying for seniority-based pay raises, despite an administrative order by the ministry that wages at private institutions should not be lower than wages at public schools, the group said.

The group demanded equal rights for educators at public and private institutions, in anticipation of a legislative review of the Teachers’ Compensation Act (教師待遇條例), which is scheduled to take place today.

Yunlin Teachers’ Association president Hsu I-chun (許逸軍) urged the ministry to protect the rights of teachers to join unions, citing an example from Da-Cheng Vocational High School.

Hsu said Da-Cheng demanded that its teachers sign an agreement to abstain from obtaining union membership, while those who were already members were forced to sign an agreement to renounce union membership.

“In order to oppress our organization, Da-Cheng installed surveillance cameras around the offices and classrooms of union leaders at the school and prevented union members from teaching classes,” Hsu said. “It was a clear display of neglect toward students’ rights to receive an education.”

Federation member Chao Yung-fu (趙永福) said that non-teaching employees at private high schools or colleges are vulnerable to overwork, as they are not protected by either the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) or the Teachers’ Act (教師法), which cap work hours at 84 per two weeks and 40 hours per week, respectively.

Textbooks spark call for boycotts

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Action Coalition of Civics Teachers spokesman Huang I-chung, right, holds up a textbook during a news conference in Taipei yesterday, calling on the Ministry of Education to withdraw certain curriculum changes.

Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

Civic groups yesterday announced a new alliance targeting Ministry of Education curriculum adjustments, urging local governments to boycott textbooks based on the new guidelines.

Representatives from 21 organizations urged the ministry to withdraw the adjustments, publish relevant meeting records and draft new rules mandating public participation in future changes.

Changes to high-school social studies curriculum guidelines announced last year by the ministry fueled controversy over what critics called ideological bias and an opaque design process.

The ministry is appealing a court decision ordering the release of committee member names, meeting transcripts and voting records for the adjustments.

National Taiwan University history professor Chou Wan-yao (周婉窈) said the scope of changes belied ministry claims of having made “minor adjustments,” adding that about 60 percent of the words within the guidelines were changed.

Many of the changes were inaccurate and reflected what she called the conservative ideology of committee members, she added.

For example, the guidelines use the phrase “Filipino servants” instead of “migrant workers” and replace “foreign spouses” with “foreign brides,” she said.

Action Coalition of Civics Teachers spokesman Huang I-chung (黃益中) compared textbooks from before and after the adjustments to show that the changes failed to simplify the texts and to reduce pressure on social studies teachers, counter to ministry statements.

“They cut out sections on human rights and the White Terror era, while adding sections on the ‘family clan’ and Chinese culture that they felt were more important,” he said.

Tu Yu-yin (涂予尹), a lawyer representing the groups in their lawsuit against the ministry, said that under ministry rules, textbooks issued before the adjustments could still be used, urging schools to boycott using new textbooks.

Huang said that most schools are determining which books to use next year, with decisions expected next month.

“The guidelines are only a rough outline,” K-12 Education Administration section chief Li Hsiu-feng (李秀鳳) said. “Textbooks can have richer content and teachers can provide more diverse supplementary materials when they teach.”

She added that schools should consider students’ best interests, because standardized tests are to be based on the new guidelines.