Hoping for more kind consideration
Aside from their own healthcare, which is close to their hearts, the staff's main concern for the education of their children, and this is another of STSIP's major projects. Unlike Hsinchu's experimental primary and middle schools, which are under the jurisdiction of the Administrative Yuan's National Science Council, STSIP's public primary and middle schools are covered by the Tainan County Bureau of Education, and are ranked at the same level as all public primaries, enjoying no special privileges. Although the faculty is quite small, and it has a limited amount of funds, the school still strives to meet all the needs of the staff.
"Aside from the core classes required by the Education Department, we also offer two different streams, 'Local Transfer' and 'Foreign Connection,'" says Lu Chang-tao, principal of STSIP's primary, Nan Kou Primary School. He goes on to explain that the "Local Transfer" is designed for those children who were being raised overseas, and have come back with their parents when they've resettled in Taiwan. These children can need special tutoring and study drills to enhance their level of Chinese, to help them quickly advance to the level of their locally-raised classmates.
This year the bilingual "Foreign Connection" class was opened, aimed at those overseas Chinese or foreign children whose parents have come to Taiwan work under a short-term contract. These children will only be staying with their parents at STSIP for a short time, a couple of years, and then could be leaving, so it's more important that they have classes in English.
In the two years Nan Kou Primary has been running, after starting at an initial roll of 100, the numbers have rocketed to over 600 students, two-thirds of which are local children from the nearby towns of Hsinshi, Anting, and Shanhwa, with the remaining third being children of park employees.
Candidly, Lu remarks that the gap in socio-economic background between the children is huge. Offering an environment in which all the children can enjoy learning, from the extremely attentive rural children to the outspoken children of new employees, is a huge challenge.
In response to the needs of the science park, all teachers at Nan Kou Primary are required to have good English and computer skills. "If you don't have a notebook PC or an LCD projector, or aren't familiar with bulletin and graphics software, I'm sorry, your chances of working at Nan Kou Primary School are virtually nil," says Lu (who can more than hold his own against his juniors, despite being in his 50s.)
Superior education needs substantial investment, says Lu frankly, and as principal, "money hunting" has become his primary function; "If the government would look on us a little more kindly, we'd definitely get better results," he says.
STSIP Director-General Tai Chien is of a similar opinion; he also looks forward to the day when STSIP is looked upon more kindly by the greater world. Research and development, he points out, is the core of industrial development, STSIP is working at attracting other cutting-edge R&D projects; already they are home to such institutes as the National Center for High-performance Computing, the National Science Council Chip Implementation Center, the National Nano Device Laboratories, and the Industrial Technology Research Institute. However, all of these are considered no more than "branches," and their manpower and equipment is still far behind that of their main facility in the north.
Another problem to be considered is traffic access; it's quite a stretch from STSIP to Tainan Airport, Tainan HSR station (planned for Kueijen Village), and the Sun Yat-sen Freeway. Traffic here is nowhere near as fast-paced as at the Hsinchu park, but what's needed more is for everyone to discard their idea that it's too far, and to come and witness the marvel of STSIP with an open mind.
"From a Taipei perspective, STSIP is probably quite a distance; but if you widen your perspective to a global one, STSIP certainly is the most futuristic strongpoint for the industry!" stresses Tai Chien.
In it's seven short years STSIP has pulled itself up from the sugarcane fields, and stands tall and proud, demonstrating its inexhaustible potential. With time, STSIP will certainly shock and amaze people worldwide!