The financial situation of the school is deteriorating. The Ministry of Education held a meeting today to approve the addition of 3 private high schools as special counselors.

(Photo by reporter Lin Xiaoyun)

[Reporters Lin Xiaoyun, Zhang Weizhen/Taipei Report] Private schools are leaving the market at an accelerated pace. Due to the deteriorating financial situation of the schools, the Ministry of Education held a meeting today to list the private Hongren Girls’ High School in Chiayi City, the private Yumigongjia in Miaoli County, and the private Yuren Middle School in Taitung County as special projects. For the tutoring objects, each of the 3 schools will be given a 2-year improvement period.

The Ministry of Education held the 8th meeting of the "Ministry of Education's First Private Senior Secondary and Above Exit Review Committee". The convener was presided over by Liu Mengqi, the political affairs secretary of the Ministry of Education. A total of 21 members attended, and more than 1/2 of the attending members agreed. All 3 schools meet the requirements of Article 6, Item 1, Subparagraph 1 of the Regulations on the Exit of Private Schools "significant deterioration of the financial situation, the fact that the debts cannot be paid off or the normal operation of school affairs has been seriously affected". The improvement period is 2 years.

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You Ronghui, chairman of the national private school trade union, said after the meeting that the Catholic Hongren Girls’ High School has always been serious about running a school, but it has no choice but to lose to the impact of the declining birth rate. The time can be to cancel the special assistant or restructure according to Article 24 of the exit regulations, merge with other schools, or reorganize the cultural and educational institutions. If the above-mentioned work cannot be completed within two years, once the recruitment is ordered to stop, the board of directors will be completely reorganized and Hongren will be lost. As well as the management rights of Liren Second School, it is recommended that Hongren Girls’ High School merge with Liren High School as soon as possible, but the most important thing is to maintain the school’s financial integrity.

You Ronghui said that Yuren High School is the only private school in Taitung that focuses on further studies. In 2013, it was taken over by a well-known tutor in Taipei. It has trained many medical students in Taitung. If unfortunately they leave, it will be a huge loss of educational resources in Taitung. The same situation also happened to the migrant workers in Miaoli. It can be seen that the test of declining birth rate is particularly severe for remote rural areas. If the government does not provide active policy assistance, it is expected that rural areas will be remote in the next five years. There will be a domino effect in private, and one after another exits, with little chance of survival.

You Ronghui said that the three schools have been announced as special assistants due to financial deterioration and affecting school operations. It can be seen that financial problems are a common problem in private schools. It is expected that the Ministry of Education will deal with private schools in accordance with the private school withdrawal regulations, and at the same time, it should also think about how to help To run high-quality private schools in rural areas, it is recommended to actively improve the conditions of private schools and provide special subsidies. Local governments should also actively assist local private schools, so as not to let rural students lose the opportunity to turn their lives around.

The Ministry of Education will announce the list on the "Announcement Area for Private Senior Secondary School Special Assistance Schools" (https://phsms.cloud.ncnu.edu.tw/eduAssistance/AssistList.aspx), and will continue to submit the list to the exit review meeting for consideration. At least 3 full-time faculty members, students, and scholars and experts from the school shall be assigned as directors of the school’s legal person, and 1 additional scholar and expert shall be assigned as a supervisor to strengthen the governance of the project counseling school.