Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 1 ó Insulino Dependiente

War, colonization, labor market needs, immigration, refuge and trade have led to human migrations, and this has frequently given rise to challenges to different aspects within a state. As a result, multicultural and multilingual societies have become common in almost every country. With respect to allocation of authority and rights, the mixing of populations can lead to inequality among all peoples within a society. In politics, culture, economics or education, indigenous peoples in multicultural countries do not receive the respect they deserve for instance. Take for example countries’ policies on language; one can clearly understand why most indigenous languages have become endangered. One of the reasons most countries’ language policies do not identify indigenous languages as official or national languages is that there is an advantage in recognizing only one (the dominant) language as official: the government can save a great deal of expense in official documentation and education.

Taiwan prides itself on its rich linguistic diversity. The official language is Mandarin Chinese, but two other languages – Taiwan Southern Ming and Hakka – are commonly spoken in everyday society. In addition to these, there are at least 14 indigenous languages.62 The use of Mandarin Chinese as the standard medium of instruction in

61

Here, the term “new” political system refers to administrative organizational frameworks institutionalized within a dominant government.

62

In 2007, the Executive Yuan adopted the “Draft of National Language development Act”, but according to the Act, there is no obligation for the Taiwanese government to implement language educational policy

school has led to a gradual reduction in the proportion of speakers of the other languages; most indigenous languages have become endangered. The development of education in Taiwan has thus far failed to effectively solve the problem of poor quality education in remote townships, as compared to the cities. The overwhelming majority of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples live in remote areas, and as such bear the brunt of the problem. Nevertheless, the challenges faced in the development of indigenous education are not limited merely to the rural/urban disparity in educational quality; indigenous educational needs have not received the regard they deserve, which is one of the reasons for academic underachievement among indigenous students.

After 1945, the management methods of Taiwan’s government regarding indigenous peoples, in their earliest stage, incorporated education as a means to eradicate remnants of the notion of obedience to the Emperor that had been inculcated during the Japanese colonization. Thus, the Shandi Pingdi Hua policy (a policy of making the mountains’ people like the plains' people) was implemented, as was the aggressive promotion of Mandarin Chinese, the official language of mainland China, with the aim of establishing a Chinese national identity for the entire population of Taiwan. In the 1990s, a new philosophy of Taiwanese-Chinese cultural nationalism came to the fore, and educational policy was adjusted as a result. School curricula began providing students with studies in the history of Taiwan, Taiwan Southern Ming, Hakka, and indigenous languages (40 minutes every two weeks). In addition, the Executive Yuan passed the Education Act for Indigenous Peoples in 1998, to ensure that indigenous students would learn indigenous languages, culture and history. But due to a lack of suitable teaching materials and instructors with adequate expertise, most of such classes were courses in name only, with little in the way of true teaching activity. However, the goal of raising local awareness continued to grow, and with the support of numerous politicians and civic organizations, the Ministry of Education launched the Grade 1-9 Curriculum in 2000 (台灣教育資源 網–九年一貫網站). Within this program, there is only one class period of indigenous language instruction per week. This is the only class that can truly be classified as indigenous education. Section 19 of the Education Act for Indigenous Peoples specifies that

[T]he preschool and public education program of the government shall provide indigenous students with an opportunity to learn their indigenous language, history, and culture.

As such, the actualization of multicultural education is the incorporation of indigenous language education in public schooling curricula. The point to observe is that we must take into consideration how effectively just 40 minutes of indigenous language study per week will assist in the revival of indigenous languages. Also, setting up language courses and training teachers is a major challenge in Taiwan, where there is a great degree of cultural diversity. This is evident from the fact that a significant number of indigenous students studies an indigenous language other than their own in this language course.

for providing Taiwan Southern Ming, Hakka, and indigenous languages courses within the educational curriculum.

Taiwan occupies a complex position in terms of the issue of national identity, which is unable to truly divorce itself from the shadow of mainland China. Educational policy keeps changing in tandem with the political winds: the rules involved may change according to national political needs and political pressure. Yet the inseparable relationship between the establishment of educational policy and a country’s political development is the same the world over.