Taiwan: Education in remote areas
出自Taipedia
偏遠地區教育：廢校問題
Education in remote areas
Taipei city government education news on 2007/1/30:
為了節省人事經費，縣市政府近年來陸續裁併百人小型學校。教育部統計，近六年來全國共裁併131所百人以下小校，其中廢校、廢班就有91所，高達七成，這些小校學生被迫離家到更遠的地方就讀。 教育部國教司專門委員鄭來長表示，94學年度百人以下小校有566校，學生人數3萬6377人，平均每班學生10.3人。他強調，廢併小校並不是教育部的政策，但國民教育是地方權限。
To save money, these years many county and city governments have closed several small elementary schools with less than 100 students. Based on the statistics made by Ministry of Education, overall there has been 91 small elementary schools closed or reducing the number of classes, and 40 small elementary schools have been merged with other schools. The percentage of school cut is higher than 70%. The students who studied in these schools are forced to study in a school far away from home. Lai-Chang Cheng, a special committee member in Department of Elementary Education, said that in 2005, there were 566 small elementary schools in the country, and the number of students in these schools is 36377. On average, there is 10.3 students in a class. He emphasized that it is not a policy made by Ministry of Education. It is decided by local governments.
當我六年前第一次看到尾瀨朗的「光之島」這套漫畫的時候，並沒有意識到台灣也有類似的小學問題。YSW's stop over談到這套漫畫展現小島居民所面臨的社會問題：
When I first read Akira Oze's comic books 'Island of light' (光の島) six years ago, I did not notice that in Taiwan, we have similar problems about small elementary schools. YSW's stop over talked about these comic books and how they show the social problems of these islanders:
這個小島故事是發生在沖繩縣石垣島的一個離島--鳩間島，一個沒有警局、沒有醫院，一家雜貨店和一間小學的美麗小島。住在島上的老人們，為了搶救可能因為沒有小孩而即將廢校的小學，展開了一場保衛戰。 ... 學校之於偏遠島嶼人民來說，更是能在這裡安身立命，維持現有幸福生活的基礎。因為有了學校，家庭就不必外移，可以留下來，教職員也可以留下來，留下來的人 多了之後，就有更多的機會繁衍生命，而生生不息的生命又再度豐足了學校，讓學校從小學蓋到高中，年輕人留在島上的時間就會越來越長，島嶼上美好的生活才會 永遠保持生機，不會逐漸凋零消逝，最後成為一座無人島。
This story is about an island, Hatoma in Inawa, Japan. An Island without police station or hospital. There is a small grocery store and an elementary school in this beautiful island. The elders in this island tries hard to save this elementary school from close because there might be no student in the future. ...To remote islanders, a school is a foundation to keep them live happily. If there is a school, families do not need to move out because of education problems. If there is a school, there will be teachers and school staff living here, and there is a chance to see more and more people live in the island. When there are more and more people, they may have a high school, and young people can live in the island for a longer time. As a result, the beautiful life in the island can keep going on, or people will go away or die and leave this island alone without humans.
在台灣，陳招池，一個小學校長，就他自己在三個小學校待過的經驗指出：
In Taiwan, a school principle, Chao-Chih Chen, commented based on his own observation in three small elementary schools:
倘若地方沒有學校，表示社區的後代沒有指望，精神沒有寄託，社區情感無法凝聚，恐怕連大人都住不下去，逼得他們往外遷徙，是不是等於廢了村落一樣。
If there is no school, there is no hope for the future generation. If there is no such hope, the people in the community cannot live and keep a relationship with other members in the community. All these will force people move out. As a result, closing a school is leaving out a village.
Moon light shadow talked about a documentary 'Immigrants' heaven':
近日，一部紀錄片「移民天堂」在公視開播，片中虛擬的天堂島，其原形實是[大倉島。除了關注到在與外籍新娘通婚之下的新台灣之子他們的生活外，也談到偏遠小學廢除問題——島上的小學因為人數未滿五十人，而被廢除，並且改建成社區活動中心。而劇中主角在無奈之中也做出最深沈的控訴：「我們要的不是社區活動中心，而是學校呀！」 在都市的小學生可以享受充分的教學資源，還有便利的交通；然而偏遠地區的小學卻沒如此優惠，如今還面臨必須花上大半精力與時間，在來往學校與住家的遙遠 路途上——山區的孩子必須每天上下山奔走，離島的孩子必須每天搭船渡海，間接剝奪學生受教的權利。在小孩最需要家庭關愛與溫暖的時候，卻要遠赴外地求學， 甚至是住校，與家人共處的時光幾乎都被剝奪了，這種考驗對於小學生未免也太過殘酷。
A documentary 'Immigrants' heaven' is on public broadcast service these days. The virtual Island of Heaven is based on a true island—Ta-Tsang island. It not only talks about the life of the immigrant spouses and their children but also talks about the problem of the closed elementary school. The elementary school on the island was closed because there was less than 50 students. The place becomes a community activity center. People in this documentary indicted for this decision: what we want is a school, not a community activity center! While the students in cities have lots of education resource and convenient transportation, the students in the remote areas do not have so much resource, and they need to spend lots of effort and time on the long communication from home to school. The children in the mountains need to climb the mountains, and the children in the islands need to take boats across sea. This transportation difficulty deprives of their right to receive education. When children need care and warmth from their families, they choose to study outside their villages, to live along without their families. This is very cruel for the students in the elementary schools.
Judie35 則談到為什麼政府要關閉這些學校：
Judie35 talked about why the government want to close these small schools:
說穿了，縣市政府的財政困難應是最主要的原因。 當然，也有教育學者為此政策背書，提出「資源集中、學習效果佳、可培養競爭力、增強同儕互動能力」等理由，來主張大學校的必要，但實際上真是如此嗎？萬淑娟 認為，學校小巧而能「全校互動」，整個學校像個大家庭，學習效果更好，而且更能學會群體互助，這難道不是另一種優勢嗎？山村的孩子去到城鎮就學，從小就失 去和自己社區的小朋友做朋友的機會，而且很容易被欺負，這真的是比較好的選擇嗎？ 公部門以政策全面封殺偏遠地方之學校，讓長期處於資源弱勢的社群，雪上加霜。
After all, the major reason is the financial difficulty. Of course, there are education researchers endorse the policy. They said large school can have more resource for better learning, and there are more students to interact with each other and the students will become more competitive. But is this argument true? Shu-Chuan Wan argued that students in small school can interact with all the members in the school, and the school is like a big family. It might be better for students to learn and interact with others. Isn't it an advantage? If the children go to cities for education, they will lose the opportunity to make friends with the children in their own villages, and they might be bullied by other students. Is it a better choice? The policy made by the government to close the schools in the remote areas will make the vulnerable people more vulnerable.
但是並非所有的老師都放棄這些偏遠地區小學的學生。雲海小學的陳麗能老師跟她的同事們一起努力保留學校。她說：
Not all teachers give up these students. Li-Neng Chen, a teacher in Yunhai elementary school works with her colleagues and said:
為了校園永續生存，避免面臨廢校的危機，讓學生有更穩定的學習環境，大家利用假日推廣特色學校課程，支援社區各項活動，每項活動幾乎動用到每位老師，但我們相互打氣，相互支援，學生學習也更豐碩，我們看見孩子們的進步，看見家長的感動，雲海真的成了我們的大家庭。
To keep the school survive from closing and to offer the students a more stable learning environment, we promote our special courses in holidays and support many community activities. Almost all of us need to join these activities. We help and encourage each other. We can see our students learn more, we can see their improvement, and we can see the parents are touched. Yunhai becomes our big family.
另一方面，台師大教育學院院長晏涵文今天宣佈，將先選擇偏遠擬併校或廢校的國中小學1~2校，規劃為台師大的實驗學校 。
On the other hand, president of National Taiwan Normal University, College of Education, Han-Wen Yen announced that they will choose one to two elementary schools or junior high schools in remote areas to set up experimental schools of their university.
對於偏遠地區教育的問題，草嶺夫子在結束帶草嶺國小學生的台北一日遊之後說：
About the education problems in remote areas, Tsao-Ling Fu Tsu brought their students in Tsao-Ling elementary school to Taipei and commented:
山上的孩子不必然窮困，需要的只是更多的文化刺激。少子化後，我們的下一代越來越少，理當要讓每一位學生越來越好。
Children living in the mountains may not be poor, but they need more culture stimuli. When we have less and less children in a family, the number of our next generation decreases, and we should make every student better and better.
偏遠地區的教育問題通常發生在國家富裕起來，鄉村的人口都跑到都市去工作之後。這個問題不只在台灣和日本，在中國，可能有更多的學生無法接受適當的教育。梅香是河南省石門山區的老師，她目前是兩個女學生的老師。她從16歲初中畢業之後就開始教書。她目前繼續教書，因為除了她以外，沒有人可以幫忙教育這兩個在她家鄉的女學生。自從網友叫她「中國最美深山女教師」之後，她的故事就變的非常有名。網友cnaysy評論這件事：
Education in remote areas becomes a problem when a country have visible economic growth and people move from villages to cities. It does not only happen in Taiwan and Japan. In China, there might be more students left behind. Mei Shiang is a teacher teaching two female students in remote Shih-Men mountain areas in Henan Province, China. Mei Shiang graduated from junior high school and started teaching since she was 16 year-old. She insisted because she is the only one who can teach these two girls in the village she grows up. Her story became very famous when people using internet call her 'the most beautiful teacher in remote areas in China.' cnaysy commented:
仔细翻阅梅香的事迹，不难发现，在她6年的教师足迹中，常常不得不为了孩子们受教育的环境而苦恼；……而因为担心教室随时可能倒塌，梅香不得不领着孩子到野外上课，最初接手时班里有11人，而到现在则只剩下2人……再看国内的教育，数不胜数的豪华大学城、昂贵的书本费逐渐给课堂的大门设置了一个有钱请进，无钱 莫入的门槛，而就在穷学生们到处拉赞助，到处可怜巴巴的乞求时，学校里几百万，几千万的闲置资金却被官员随意挪用，甚至投入炒股——不知各位网友在发出对梅香的赞扬声时，是否看清楚了整个事件的背后，相关职能部门的不作为，正是此事件的始作俑者？
When we look into the story, it is not hard to find out that in her six-year teaching, she is always worried about the education environment. Because she was afraid that the classroom would collapse at any time, she led those children to study outside. At first there were 11 students. Now there are only two. When we look at the education in our country, countless fabulous college town and expensive tuition fee set up a doorstill for people who do not have enough money. When poor students try to raise and beg for money everywhere, those money in school education system is taken by the officers or even used in stock market. When we admire Mei-Shiang's insistence, do we really see that under the story, it is the related departments in the government not taking action causing the education problem in remote areas.