A Letter from the Minister to Parents of National Elementary and Junior High School Students
Dear Parents, Hello:
The summer vacation is approaching, and the holiday that children look forward to the most is coming. We wish you all a safe and pleasant summer vacation!
This year, the world has faced the challenge of severe infectious pneumonia together. In Taiwan, in order to allow children to learn in a safe and healthy campus environment, the Ministry of Education has "extended the winter break and shortened the summer break" to cooperate with epidemic prevention. Before the start of school, we prepared campus epidemic prevention supplies and thoroughly disinfected the campus environment. Each school also established an epidemic prevention task force to make the most complete preparations. After everyone's concerted efforts, the domestic epidemic situation has slowed down. We are very grateful for the understanding and cooperation of all parents, which has allowed us to effectively and quickly complete various epidemic prevention tasks.
During the epidemic prevention period, in order to allow children's learning to be free from the constraints of time and space, we have strengthened online learning resources and preparations, including integrating public and private online learning platforms such as "Edu-Cloud", "MOE In-Talent Network", "Taipei Cool English Cloud", "JoYo Education Platform", and "PaGamO Online Learning Platform", as well as the high-quality and free "Cool English Online Learning Platform", which offers rich English learning courses covering listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, and games. This summer, we are also cooperating with the U.S. Travel Association to launch online learning courses related to American travel to enrich children's learning during the summer vacation.
During the summer vacation, in addition to encouraging children to make good use of online learning resources and cultivate good self-directed learning habits, as the domestic epidemic situation gradually subsides, we suggest that parents also take advantage of the holiday to spend more time with their children outdoors and get close to nature. The Ministry of Education has been promoting outdoor education for more than ten years. In 2019, it launched "Outdoor Education 2.0" to implement the spirit of the new curriculum guidelines and connect with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It integrates issues such as environment, energy, oceans, mountains, forests, and land into the curriculum and combines schools, communities, and practical fields to promote mountaineering and marine education. We hope that children can experience the charm of nature, care about the land they live on, and environmental sustainability. To encourage outdoor education, we have also established an "Outdoor Education Resource Platform" to provide information on various counties and cities, natural ecology, social education venues, exploration and experience, facility services, and related course areas, making it easy for parents to find suitable outdoor education activities and venues with their children.

In response to the "New Lifestyle Movement for Epidemic Prevention", the Ministry of Education is also offering free admission to its five major museums for visitors under 19 years old during the summer vacation. These include the National Museum of Natural Science, the National Museum of Natural Science, the National Science and Technology Museum, the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, and the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium. We welcome parents to take advantage of this opportunity to bring their children to visit.
Finally, we remind parents to pay attention to their children's daily routines during the summer vacation. Whether indoors or outdoors, they should pay special attention to safety and continue to help their children implement good self-health management and develop good habits of frequent handwashing.
When entering public places, maintain social distancing or wear a mask. Let us continue to do a good job of epidemic prevention and have a safe, healthy, and happy summer vacation.
safe, healthy, and happy summer vacation.
safe, healthy, and happy summer vacation.
Wishing you
All the best and a healthy family
Sincerely, Pan Wen-chung, Minister of Education
July 6, 2020