The situation is quite fluid, with the MOE meeting earlier today and apparently deciding that universities in Taiwan will postpone the beginning of the semester to Monday March 2, 2020. A press conference will apparently follow. If any forumosans have a source on this, please feel free to link it.
I’ve also edited the title of this thread to indicate the details are still in flux.
It is almost senseless to delay the start of school.
Parents have no choice but to put their kids into a buxiban during the day which exposed the kids to the same dangers. Possibly even more danger since the government is not supplying masks to buxibans.
Sources on delaying university semester start time are inconsistent and unclear at this time. This article revised the proposed start date from 3/2 to 2/25
Fine print: school changes to the semester calendar must first be submitted and approved. As of afternoon today, my uni has reiterated starting at 2/17 as usual and self-quarantine case-by-case. A fair amount of push back among some of our profs, since the 14 day delay is logical to be applied to all levels (including uni students). Personally, I could see the logic in a one week delay and starting at the same time as 高中一下 , since we already have self-quarantine measures for students and staff returning from abroad.
The 14 day quarantine of foreign students makes sense.
Oddly enough I contacted my uni today and was told that they hadn’t decided whether to open on March 2nd or not yet. Supposedly they are making the decision tomorrow.
It could well be that the person I was talking to wasn’t in possession of all the facts. I suspect that it’s more likely that the uni is making the official announcement tomorrow. Or, maybe, Taiwan News is wrong. Either could be correct. Or both.
And it’s none of your business. Being a high school teacher is easy af. You can ignore all your students’ problems (unless it’s really bad) and just show up at classes.
I’m 99% confident we’re going to receive an official announcement tomorrow saying that March 2nd is the start of the semester. However, this is Taiwan.
I’m sure there must be internal bickering / horse trading going on in universities now—not about the March 2 starting day (which I think is uncontroversial) but about the extra two weeks added onto the usual extremely long semester during the summer.
I wonder if some folks are trying to work out some Saturdays plus “distance teaching” scheme. Or better still, just switch to a 16 week semester, something university administrators have been talking about for years!