Taiwan’s 12-year compulsory education plan will be implemented in 2014 as scheduled, Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji said Aug. 3.
“The aim is to encourage the development of diverse senior and vocational high school programs, and reduce the pressure for academic advancement on students,” Wu said, adding that the nationwide basic competence test for junior high school students will not be staged starting 2014.
Wu said the plan includes exam-free enrollment for 75 percent of all students in 15 school districts around the nation, plus specialty admission for 25 percent wishing to attend schools with a particularly strong program, such as mathematics and science, fine arts, sports, nursing, computer science or music.
Those applying for specialty admission may register in any school district, while exam-free enrollment is restricted to the district in which a student resides, Wu explained. The quota for specialty admission will gradually drop to 15 percent by 2020, he added.
According to Hsu Chen-bang, a section chief in the Ministry of Education’s Department of Secondary Education, “The details of exam-free enrollment have yet to be worked out by local governments and reviewed by the MOE.”
But the main principles are for schools not to consider student grades or set up restrictions on registration, Hsu added.
Specialty admission will require screening processes, such as entrance exams or applications based on achievement in the student’s chosen field. “A certain percentage of places will still be left for entrance exams as there are students who are simply good at taking tests,” Hsu said.
The current nine-year compulsory education has been in existence since 1968, according to the MOE.
