Mr. Tu Cheng-sheng
Minister of Education"...[B]uilding a country that does not beat children..."
Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) Education Minister Tu Cheng-sheng joined 30 other government officials, as well as parents and children Saturday, in a campaign against corporal punishment. The campaign, organized by the Humanistic Education Foundation, was aimed at "building a country that does not beat children." In a show of his support for the goal, Tu led the representatives and officials from local education bureaus on a bicycle ride to break a barricade symbolizing "the bad habit of punishing children physically." He also signed a "passport of love" -- an agreement that promises to spare the rod. According to the minister, it is a practice among civilized countries not to beat children, and he urged parents to set down some rules with their children instead of resorting to physical punishment to train them in self-discipline. Meanwhile, Huang Pi-hsia, director of the Children's Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior, noted that there were more than 5,300 reported cases of child abuse last year, most of which were physical abuse. While parents were the abusers in over 80 percent of these cases, most of the parents had only limited education, Huang said. (By Y.F. Low)
