I repeatedly wrote in support of the government, stressing that the reform policies had been established by the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, and that any sudden change would be inappropriate.

But several years have passed, and the DPP government has completely failed to come up with its own reform policy, and has simply stuck to that of the former KMT administration. This strategy is all wrong.

The most fundamental question is: Does the DPP government truly value education? Generally, it does not attach importance to education. The nation's education budget in the first two years of the DPP government's rule accounted for 10.8 percent and then 11.7 percent of its annual budget in the second year. The number increased to 12 percent in the third year. Over the next two years it remained virtually unchanged, as it merely accounted for 12.1 percent and 12 percent of the annual budget. Its average increase rate over the past few years is 0.1 percent. But in the same period, the average increase rate for the annual budget is 0.8 percent.

Obviously, the increase of the education budget is much less than that of the nation's annual budget. Besides, the number of undergraduate and graduate students in Taiwan has increased by 64 percent over the last five years, while over the same period the higher education budget grew by just 13 percent. So the education budget allotted for each student is in fact decreasing.

Education policy does need to be consistent, and the DPP government has little choice but to follow policies established by its predecessors. But it cannot ignore the need to create its own education policy. As for the existing policy, especially the problematic issue of educational reform, it should seek some solutions of its own.

Unfortunately, after staying in power for five years, it has failed to come up with any new ideas to improve the quality of Taiwan's education.

The only major policy is the so-called "Five-year NT$50 billion" subsidy plan for the nation's leading universities. But the plan was not a result of thorough research and planning. It was upheld by the DPP government -- which loves to shout out empty slogans about how much money for how many years -- even before it was studied.

It is being reviewed at the moment, and is expected to encounter numerous problems in the future. Such casual policymaking is not a long-term solution. To be blunt, when the five years are up, the policy's continuance itself is a big problem. The Ministry of Education's previous plan for promoting university academic excellence served as an example.

I have only touched on the most basic questions regarding an education budget and educational policy in this article. There are still many more problems for which the government has yet to find a solution. For example, the situation regarding the unequal distribution of educational resources and opportunities for education has worsened. Each level of education is also having its own problems.

For example, both the "Grade 1-9 Curriculum," known as the nine-year educational program, for elementary and junior high school students, and the content and materials of each subject, are full of problems. It seems that the DPP government has no active and long-term strategy to deal with any of these issues.

Chiu Hei-yuan is a research fellow in the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica.

TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG