The Ministry of Education, on November 9th, organized an event to present the results of the project Let’s Talk at National Taipei University of Education. Audrey Tang, a minister without portfolio, once again had discussions on educational innovation, placemaking, media literacy, and tribal development with different departments, and young people. The event, broadcasted online, allowed the views offered by participants to be delivered to relevant government agencies more rapidly.
According to Minister Tang, trends in youth public participation over the recent years showed that young people’s demand for public and real-time information had been increasing. The program Let’s Talk focuses on promoting deliberative democracy, open government, transparency, participation, and accountability in order to lay the foundation of mutual trust between young people and the government. A total of 22 deliberated reports were compiled by 699 young people after more than 150 hours of discussions over the 3-month preparation period. These reports are collaborative intellectual achievements that provided concrete and feasible concepts for the government to discuss, meriting the full attention and responses from the government.
During the opening, the Ministry of Education presented some of the highlights of Let’s Talk this year. The organizer also invited an illustrator to present key points of discussions in interesting illustrations, successfully impressing the participants. Minister Tang sought inquiries from young people during exchanges, which were also available on Slido in real-time. Session 1 focused on placemaking. Participants asked about the development of social housing and issues related to housing justice. In response, the Ministry of Interior gave a brief explanation, pointing out that housing justice is the core value of the government's housing policies. Questions on whether seasonal travel subsidies were launched in favor of specific operators, the legitimacy of tours, and the discrepancies of local development were raised. For tribal development, participants proposed to improve infrastructure to provide more access to information and education resources for remote areas. The 2nd session started with media literacy. Participants directed their questions towards accountable departments. According to Minister Tang, fake news can be countered via the identification of fake news, debunking, penalties, and the removal of fake news. Accountable departments had been working together to tackle fake news. Participants also recommended the inclusion of senior education into the scope of education for developing media literacy. For educational innovation, participants proposed career development for students with outstanding skills. In response, the Ministry of Labor pointed out that the government spared no effort to promote vocational competition. Taiwan ranked the third place in terms of vocational skills. Job matching services would continue to be provided for skilled workers. The rights to selection of students receiving special education was also discussed. The Ministry of Education responded by offering detailed information afterwards. There were participants with disabilities arguing that special university fairs should be organized for students with disabilities as an effort to safeguard their rights and interests. Upon noting this recommendation, Minister Tang asked the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Welfare to provide detailed information afterwards. At the end, Minister Tang reaffirmed that the attention paid by young people to public affairs helped to increase the influence of young people over public participation.
The discussions on November 9th between the government officials led by Minister Tang and young people were followed by a contest on November 10th, during which participants presented their works on issues in the