Corpun file 20159

China Post, Taipei, 25 April 2008

MOE: Physical punishment down in Taiwan schools

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Fewer students are being physically punished in schools since the government legally banned corporal punishment in December 2006, a Ministry of Education (MOE) official said yesterday.

The change was reflected in the results of a survey conducted among junior high students every two months by the ministry, which revealed that the percentage of students physically punished in schools dropped from 42.5 percent in 2006 to 29.2 percent in 2007, said Jenny Ko of the MOE's Student Affairs Committee. She noted that this means 70.8 percent of students had not been physically punished in 2007.

During the first two months of 2008, the percentage of students who received physical punishment in schools declined further to 15.8 percent, marking a decrease of 12 percentage points compared with the 27.7 percent recorded during the same period in 2007, Ko said.

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