Taipei, June 15 (CNA) Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said Wednesday that his ministry is scrapping a regulation that requires students to have their names sewn onto their uniforms.
When the 2022-2023 academic year begins, that rule will be revoked for students at government K-12 schools and pre-schools, Pan said.
However, the uniforms will have to bear the student ID numbers for quick identification and contact in case of an emergency, he said at a press briefing.
That regulation will apply across the board to male and female students, Pan said, adding that the MOE will send a written notice to all government schools and local governments about the changes, before the start of the new school year.
The policy change was first advocated by New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) , who said during a legislative session in March that it should be implemented to protect students' privacy and personal safety.
Wang also called for gender equality in the regulations which are required by 50 percent of government junior and senior high schools, with 25 percent of senior high schools requiring only male students to wear their names on their uniforms.
After Wang's appeal, the MOE's K-12 Education Administration convened a meeting that included representatives of various groups, and a decision was reached to scrap the embroidered name policy and require instead the student number on school uniforms, according to Pan.
When the change was announced, Wang said in a Facebook post Wednesday that she was very pleased with the decision.
The MOE's policy revision is significant, particularly for those who have been harassed and subjected to online probing of their private personal information, based on the names displayed on their uniforms, Wang said.
