Sociopolitical

School plays key role on remote ROC island

Today’s Dongyin Junior High and Elementary School as it appeared in 1959, seven years after it was built with the help of ROC troops stationed in Dongyin Township. (Photos courtesy of DJHES)

• Publication Date：07/15/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Grace Kuo

Situated 100 nautical miles northwest of Keelung City, Dongyin is Taiwan’s northernmost township. Comprised of Dongyin and Xiyin islands, it measures 4.71 square kilometers. With no place for an airport amid the terrain of rocky hills and steep granite sea cliffs, Dongyin can only be reached by an eight-hour trip on the Taima Ferry from Keelung, or a one-hour flight from Taipei to Matsu’s Nangan Island followed by a two-hour boat ride to Dongyin.

Legend has it that the islets, originally known as Dongyong, “eastern surge,” after the turbulent waters surrounding them, thrust up out of the sea overnight. In 1956 the government renamed them Dongyin, “guiding to the East.”

Dongyin, like the other archipelagos on the former frontline between Taiwan and mainland China, took on tremendous military significance after the ROC government relocated to Taiwan in 1949. Until 1991, when the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion were lifted, the islands were under strict military control.

Residents had to apply for permission to leave and return, and no outside visitors were allowed. Troops continue to be stationed there today.

The pair of islets, part of the Matsu group administered as Lienchiang County, has just one school—Dongyin Junior High and Elementary School, established in 1952 as Dongyong School.

“Before our school was built, children of wealthy families studied in private schools run by traditional scholars,” DJHES Principal Wu Chien-chung said. “However, as most residents lived by farming and fishing, they had little time to go to school. The majority of the people were therefore illiterate.

“In view of the importance of education, the government set up the school, offering courses from first to sixth grade. Classes were also provided to nonelementary school students who hoped to get an education, regardless of their age.”

Compulsory education ended at the sixth grade until 1968, Wu explained. “If students failed to come, parents would receive labor service punishments such as constructing houses and chopping wood. But as parents believed education promised a more successful future, they were willing to let their children go to school no matter how difficult life was for them.”

In 1956, two of the first five graduates of the school joined 10 youngsters from other Matsu islands on the trip to Kinmen, where the nearest junior high school was located, Wu said. When Matsu Senior High School was founded on Nangan Island July 1, 1957, some returned for further education in their home island group.

Two years after nine-year compulsory education was implemented in 1968, DJHES established its junior high section. In 1980, a kindergarten was added to round out basic education in Dongyin.

The school has turned the islands’ isolated setting and military background into advantages for its students. An ocean curriculum, for instance, aims to cultivate knowledge of and respect for the sea.

Teachers of different subjects have all pitched in to plan the courses, Wu said. Chinese-language teachers arranged for students to read marine literature; social studies teachers focused on the geography of the Matsu Archipelago and the history of migration from mainland China’s Fujian province to Dongyin; English teachers introduced marine biology vocabulary.

For their part, science instructors designed experiments on ocean currents; math teachers taught latitude and longitude; physical education instructors trained students in swimming, kayaking, scuba diving and lifesaving.

National defense education is another featured program at DJHES, Wu noted. “We work with the military headquarters here, arranging for our children to ride in tanks, walk through military tunnels and wear camouflage uniforms. We’ve also held paintball fights that help create the feeling of actual battlefield experience.”

DJHES, renovated in 2007, is the only educational institution in Dongyin Township.

In addition, starting this year, DJHES has organized exchange programs with Taipei Municipal Hushan Elementary School in Beitou District. “Thirty-six of our students from third to sixth grade visited Hushan for three days in April, while more than 36 of their students will come here in September,” Wu said.

During the Taipei trip, his students experienced hot springs, picked calla lilies in Yangmingshan National Park, went to the “Western Mythology and Legends: Selected Works from the Louvre Museum” exhibition at the National Palace Museum, toured the Taipei Zoo and Taipei 101, and visited Eslite Bookstore.

Visiting students from both sides stay with families, Wu said, stressing that the objective of the exchange is to “give children from rural and urban areas experience of each other’s living conditions and lifestyles.”

While DJHES offers a diverse range of courses, its remote location and inconvenient transportation lead to frequent teacher turnover. “Sometimes transportation from Dongyin to the outside world is completely cut off for days or even weeks because of bad weather and marine conditions,” he noted.

“Transportation is expensive, too. Although we have helicopters to Nangan, the fare is more than NT$1,000 (US$33) one way, while it costs another NT$2,000 to take the plane from Nangan to Taiwan.

“Even though Dongyin islanders can get a 50 percent discount, we still have to spend NT$5,000 to NT$6,000 for a round trip, excluding accommodation fees,” he continued. “So except for teachers who are locals or married to a person from Dongyin, our turnover period is every two to three years.”

Wu pointed out that recruiting teachers who studied on government scholarships can partially solve the problem. “These teachers are assigned first to schools in remote areas, and they must serve for at least two years.” While they do not necessarily stay longer, the supply of such teachers is fairly secure, he said.

Another method is to request assistance from the troops stationed on the islands, Wu said. “The military headquarters has a databank listing soldiers with particular skills, such as badminton, volleyball, music or science. Whenever we need backup for physical education electives, for instance, the selected soldiers—who will first undergo interviews with military officers—will provide assistance.

“This has been a great help to us,” Wu stressed, adding that some of the soldiers have doctorates or teacher’s certificates.

Now in his third year as the seventh principal of DJHES, Wu said his philosophy of running the school is for students to learn happily, teachers to teach with love, and parents to rest assured that their children are receiving a good education.

“I hope to create a space where youngsters grow happily toward a bright future, with a sense of gratitude, and of course, where they are equipped with basic abilities such as to reading, writing, self-expression and creativity.” (THN)

Write to Grace Kuo at mlkuo@mofa.gov.tw