Taipei City actively promotes "bilingual education" in primary & secondary schools, hoping to change the city's perspectives to the world

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) recently participated in the “Conference and Forum for Taipei City Bilingual Education White Paper Vision (臺北市雙語教育白皮書願景)”, expressing his gratitude to the Education Bureau staff who dedicate themselves to Smart Education, International Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Bilingual Education.

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Ko Wen-je hopes to change the overall culture of education in Taiwan. (Photo / Provided by Taipei City Government)

Mayor Ko stated that the biggest challenge in promoting bilingual education is about the teaching staff. Fortunately, parents are very satisfied with the bilingual education provided in Taipei City.

Not only that, but the support of the educational staff has also reached 95%. This year, it is hoped that the promotion of bilingual education will be expanded to 79 schools, accounting for 38% of schools in Taipei City. It is expected to reach 100% in another four years, taking a total of 10 years to achieve this goal.

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Bilingualism changes the city's cultures and perspectives to the world. (Photo / Provided by Taipei City Government)

In addition, Mayor Ko added that in the next five years, bilingualism will be fully implemented. Besides recruiting teaching staff, there is also a need to provide training to the current teachers. The curriculum design is of great importance as well. Since 2019, the Bilingual Promotion Office has been established to further promote bilingual education in Taipei City.

Learning from Singapore's bilingual policy that encourages Singaporeans to be proficient in both the English language and their respective ethnic mother tongues, bilingualism changes the city's cultures and perspectives to the world. In the future, Taiwan's social culture or political culture is likely to be adjusted due to the implementation of bilingual education.