Education in Taiwan Through Five Decades

A student at Taipei’s Long’an Elementary School intently operates a computer as others watch, riveted. (photo by Chien Yun-ping)

—“Let Us Count Our Chips One by One” (October 1985)

Jinhua Junior High School was founded in 1937, when it was known as Taihoku Girls’ Home Economics School and was the only school in Taiwan specializing in vocational education for girls. Following the launch of nine-year compulsory education in 1968 it was renamed Taipei Municipal Jinhua Girls’ Junior High School, and it began to accept male students in 1989. The photo shows a class on the safe use of electricity, with principles written on posters on the blackboard behind the kids. The children stand around a table watching the proper procedure for ironing a skirt. (photo by Li Pei-hui)

A view of the campus of Green Island Elementary School on Lüdao (Green Island), Taitung County, in 1956. 

(MOFA file photo)

In 1973 students from the “New Life Promotional Team” at Taipei Municipal Ren Ai Junior High School served in their community. They are shown here holding up slogans for the New Life Movement calling on residents to participate actively in the campaign. The students’ enthusiasm for helping others raised awareness in society about the needs of poor and remote areas. (photo by Li Pei-hui)

In 1968, US Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman (holding the ball) visited Taoyuan’s Chung Shan Elementary School to watch a performance. He posed for this commemorative photo with students who wore Indigenous apparel for the show. 

(photo by Shen Hsin-nan)

When a delegation of American media representatives visited Taiwan in 1976, they came to Taipei’s Laosong Elementary School and watched as students neatly formed a sun with 12 rays, a national symbol of the ROC Taiwan. (photo by Feng Guoxiong)

In this 1971 photo, students at Laosong Elementary School wait to catch diabolos that they have tossed into the air. (photo by Meng Qingchang)

“Can you see my name up here?” In the era of joint entrance examinations, checking the posted list of results was the most anxious time for parents and students. (photo by Diago Chiu)

—“Mao Kao-wen Takes On the Entrance Exam ‘Monster’” (September 1991)

After unified editions of textbooks were abandoned, school entrance examinations also went the way of the dodo. Scenes of students sweltering in the summer heat during university joint entrance exams, and of parents waiting outside to give them food and water, have become a thing of the past. (photo by Vincent Chang)

—“Textbooks Get Deregulated Too” (September 1989)

Throwing their mortarboards into the air, these graduates of National Taiwan University feel free and easy and ready to optimistically face the future. (photo by Kent Chuang)

—“Congratulations, Graduates!” (July 2014)

Swimming in the uncertain depths of the ocean is both difficult and risky. Nonetheless, Yeliu Elementary School founded an ocean-oriented physical education course, including classes in canoeing and marine survival, to familiarize students with the sea. (photo by Kent Chuang)

—“Marine Athletics: Island Citizens in the Swim” (November 2013)

To promote the under-forest economy, Lin Enhui, principal of Penglai Elementary School in Miaoli’s Nanzhuang Township, gives an outdoor class on beekeeping. (photo by Jimmy Lin)

—“Balancing Production and the Environment: The Under-forest Economy Takes Off” (May 2020)

Weng Heng-bin, Taiwan’s first licensed arborist, has been working to promote tree education. He is shown here at a school teaching the kids how to climb a tall on-campus tree. (photo by Kent Chuang)

—“View from the Top: Arborists in the Service of Trees” (February 2019)

The road to being a hair stylist is not easy. In particular, there is a skill to Taiwanese-style upright shampooing (normally combined with a head massage) which is difficult to master without several months of training—classroom instruction and observation alone are not enough. The photo shows students from Neng Ren Home Economic and Commercial Vocational High School in Xindian, New Taipei City, getting some hands-on practice. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

—“Shampooing, Taiwan Style” (March 2023)

When film director Charlie Chu launched his “Formosa 3D” project, he used a mobile movie truck to enable children in the countryside to experience 3D video. Confronted with the vivid images, the kids let out shrieks of delight. (photo by Kent Chuang)

—“Moveable Feats: Taiwan’s Heartwarming Mobile Services” (August 2023)

The Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University has long attracted large numbers of international students to Taiwan to learn Mandarin Chinese.

—“Mandarin Education Catching On Around the World” (August 2014)