Taoyuan Audit: Over 20% of Cram Schools Uninspected in Five Years; Education Bureau to Improve Oversight

An audit by the Taoyuan City Audit Office has revealed that more than 20% of registered cram schools in the city have not undergone inspections in the past five years. The audit, covering the period up to August of the previous year, found that out of 1,103 schools registered before the end of 2020, 259 had not been inspected between 2021 and August of the current year, representing 23.48% of the total.

Furthermore, the audit highlighted issues with unaccredited schools, noting that some operators have repeatedly enrolled students without proper registration and have not been effectively guided to rectify their status. The audit office also criticized the Education Bureau's method of publicizing violation information, stating that the current system, which involves bi-weekly PDF announcements on a specialized website, makes it difficult for parents to search for the past violation records of specific schools.

In response to the audit's findings, the Taoyuan City Education Bureau acknowledged the limitations posed by a finite number of dedicated inspection personnel. The bureau stated that it will prioritize re-inspecting the two schools that have not been checked since before the end of 2018 and has included other schools with overdue inspections in its upcoming visitation and guidance lists.

The bureau also announced plans to enhance management and transparency. This includes increasing penalties for operators who continue to violate regulations after being fined and transitioning to a cumulative list format for publicizing violation records. This new format aims to make it easier for parents to access historical violation data for cram schools.

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The Education Bureau will prioritize re-inspecting schools that have not been inspected for a long time, increase penalties for violating operators, and adopt a cumulative system for publicizing violation records to improve management efficiency and information transparency.