Friday, July 15, 2011

DPP slams Ma, Wu over botched exam procedures

By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) should be held accountable for Taipei City’s failure to resolve controversies surrounding the tri-city high-school entrance exams, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.

The exams, which are used in Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市) and Keelung, were held in May and last week as part of the three cities’ single-textbook policy. They sparked a furor after students complained about the application process because of “ambiguous admissions thresholds.”

The admission process created difficulties for students and parents.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) on Tuesday opened up more than 2,200 vacancies for new admissions, but refused to terminate the controversial exams, a 2007 brainchild of Hau and Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基), then-head of Taipei City’s Department of Education, to take the place of the nationwide examinations and the multiple-textbook policy of the then-DPP central government.

“Hau and Wu [Ching-ji] were spoiled by President Ma and Premier Wu and refused to stop the mistake. We think that Ma and Wu should also be responsible for the controversy,” said Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青), spokesperson of DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), adding that Tsai also called for Hau to immediately terminate the failed examinations.

Meanwhile, in related news, Tsai, in her remarks on the 12-year compulsory education system published on Tuesday, said the educational system should be “exam-free” to reduce stress for students.

Hsu said the DPP is scheduled to release its 10-year party platform, which contains a detailed policy on education, before the party national congress on Aug. 28.

A series of white papers on various issues — among them education, the environment, energy and cross-strait relations — is also scheduled to be published in September, she added.

If the DPP wins January’s presidential election, Hsu said, it is confident that it will be able to move forward the implementation of the 12-year compulsory education system, which was planned for 2014.