Taiwan legislator slams opposition for slashing drone education budget

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chen Pei-yu has strongly criticized opposition parties for proposing drastic cuts to the budget allocated for drone education and procurement. The New Power Party caucus proposed slashing NT$200 million from the budget for purchasing 7,010 drones, including football drones, programmable drones, and aerial photography drones, for 175 schools and five vocational centers. Meanwhile, the Kuomintang (KMT) caucus has moved to freeze all Ministry of Education budgets related to drone training.

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Education requires waiting and accumulation, so we must continue to invest; the world will not wait for us. The blue and white parties cutting science and technology education budgets are delaying Taiwan's next generation.

Chen argued that educational investments require sustained commitment and that the world will not wait for Taiwan. She stated that by cutting technology education budgets, the opposition parties are delaying the development of Taiwan's next generation. Drones are already integrated with critical technologies such as AI, automated control, semiconductors, and communications, making them a key area of talent development globally. The Ministry of Education's initiative to establish drone equipment and training for high school and university students aims to expose them to future industries and build a comprehensive talent pipeline.

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Our children have the ability to stand on the international stage, so we should expand our support at this time.

Chen highlighted that Taiwan's students recently secured second place in the Drone Football Intercontinental Cup in South Korea, demonstrating their potential on the international stage. She believes this is precisely the time to expand support, not cut it. Investing in technology education, she stressed, is an investment in Taiwan's future, cultivating more engineers, researchers, and tech entrepreneurs for the next decade. Parents expect their children to gain future-oriented skills, teachers need up-to-date tools, and young people hope for a competitive industrial environment in Taiwan. If the very starting point for talent cultivation is cut, it will impact not only schools but Taiwan's overall technological competitiveness.

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Investing in education is investing in the nation's future; supporting children's learning is protecting the competitiveness of Taiwan's next generation.