Deputy Rep. Robin Cheng, on behalf of Ambassador Alexander Yui, witnessed a renewal signing ceremony of an MOU on education cooperation between Taiwan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) on Wednesday, Aug. 14. The MOU, having been signed prior to the event by Acting Director General Kao-Hsien Liao of MOE’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education, was signed by MSDE Superintendent Carey Wright at the ceremony and jointly witnessed by DCM Cheng, several officials and local dignitaries.
In December 2020, Taiwan and the United States signed the Taiwan-U.S. Education Initiative, which aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in international education, especially in the field of language education. As of 2021, MSDE has actively encouraged schools at all levels in the state to cooperate with primary and secondary schools in Taiwan. MOE collaborates with Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) in Maryland in establishing K-12 bilateral language education cooperation exchange mechanisms to increase opportunities for substantive educational collaboration between Taiwan-Maryland K-12 schools.
MOE also sponsored qualified Mandarin teachers from Taiwan to local schools to teach Mandarin immersion courses, and Taiwan’s government has continued to encourage more Maryland schools to conduct Taiwan Children’s Chinese Competency Certification Tests for two years, with a total of 155 Mandarin learning students, allowing more Maryland students to apply for the test nearby as a way to help students better evaluate their learning plans and results.
In his remarks, DCM Cheng expressed his hope to expand more collaboration for bilateral language teaching, educational and academic exchanges through the new chapter and lay a more solid foundation for future bilateral education cooperation.
