The United Daily News reported that the Ministry of Education announced on Oct. 7 an improvement plan for school affairs meetings, effective Oct. 9. The meetings were meant to deal with unfit teachers, but in practice they spawned a problem of abusive complaints on campus. The ministry amended three sets of rules this time, including those on teacher dismissal and on teacher performance evaluation.

What changed

Two points stand out. A case can be closed directly if the teacher's conduct counts as reasonable discipline or is not punishable under the law, and the conditions for bringing in outside investigators in ordinary performance-evaluation cases have been narrowed. The aim is to cut cases that drag on unnecessarily.

Unions are not satisfied

Kuo Yen-cheng, chair of the Taiwan Teachers' Union for Education Industry, said the changes are minor and do not answer the difficulties of frontline teachers. He listed problems: the meeting both investigates and deliberates and can even decide directly that a teacher goes into a counseling period; the investigation period was lengthened from at most 30 days to at most four months; recruiting outside members through a talent pool makes campus cases more judicial; and safeguards against anonymous complaints are not working. His union wants the meetings abolished and a legal guarantee of rehabilitation and compensation.

The National Union of Substitute and Temporary Teachers said it was not invited to take part in the revision and that the names, qualifications and conflict-of-interest information of investigators lack transparency. It asked for formal participation, disclosure of that information and protection against non-renewal over groundless or false complaints. The Humanistic Education Foundation called the revision a step-by-step improvement but said unclear criteria, school-borne pressure to decide and unchanged remedies for victimized students remain to be fixed.

The ministry: understanding, but there is a background

Vice Minister Chang-Liao Wan-chien and K-12 Education Administration head Peng Fu-yuan spoke to reporters that afternoon. Chang-Liao said the ministry understands the unions' demands and that Minister Cheng Ying-yao has voiced sympathy in the Legislative Yuan, but that the law creating the meetings had its background and social demand; the system does need review, and the ministry will keep talking with all sides and revise on a rolling basis once there is consensus.

Because schools run on a semester system, the ministry plans to review the new rules again in January and to publish quickly any changes that command consensus. On parents who file repeated complaints, schools may stop accepting cases already handled under the rules or confirmed as not to be accepted, and if complaints keep coming they may send copies of the official letters to the local government and, if needed, the ministry. The investigator talent pool already has a removal mechanism, and training on new rules, investigation practice and cases will be strengthened.