Taiwan to benefit from increasing ethnic diversity

2014-07-31

Taiwan society is expected to experience greater cultural and ethnic diversity as the population of immigrant spouses and their children chalks up exponential growth going forward, according to former Control Yuan President Frederick Chien.

“Such diversity can be a valuable asset for Taiwan as long as we learn to respect and live with different cultures,” Chien said at a cross-cultural education conference July 29 in Taipei City.

Chien advised the government to adjust budgets for related affairs to reflect the increasing importance of new immigrant families in Taiwan.

At present, there are 710,000 immigrant spouses and children in Taiwan, surpassing the aboriginal population of 530,000 as the fourth largest ethnic group in Taiwan. In contrast, funding set aside for immigrants stands at NT$400 million (US$13.4 million) per year, compared with NT$9.6 billion for aboriginal affairs.

“Taiwan should address this situation with a national strategy," Chien said. “The public, as well as the government, ought to embrace new cultures. Second-generation immigrant children can form the backbone of the nation’s Southeast Asian development policy, and education is key to this undertaking.”

While Taiwan’s education system has come under pressure from low birth rates, the number of elementary school enrolments by the children of new immigrants has increased fourfold to 209,000 over the past decade.

Wu Ching-shan, director-general of the K-12 Education Administration under the Ministry of Education, said the government will implement a New Immigrants Torch Program starting in the new school year to strengthen support for these students.

It is projected that with targeted programs and reallocation of resources, schools can offer courses in the native tongues of the new immigrants, further diversifying the cultural spectrum in Taiwan’s education.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=220140&CtNode=413)