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On the occasion of Taiwan's national teachers' day (28 September), National Teachers' Association (NTA) and National Federation of Teachers' Unions (NFTU) members join in a highly symbolic action to remind the government about its promises that have not been kept.

NTA and NFTU called on teachers to wear black T-shirts to remind President Ma Ying-Jeou that promises he made to teachers as far back as 2008 are not forgotten. These t-shirts, printed with the Chinese character, "?" (which stands for "integrity"), were ordered by 30,000 teachers - before stocks ran out.

The unions have been pressing the government on a range of issues. Among them are:

• A national pension plan for private school teachers (promised in 2010)
• Increasing the national education budget to the equivalent of about US$816 million (promised in 2008, during President Ma's election campaign)
• Decreasing class sizes to a maxiumum of 25 pupils (also a promise from the election campaign)
• Increasing the number of primary school full-time teachers (2011 promise)
• Increasing subsidies for classroom teachers (2011 promise)

Integrity is priceless

NTA President Liu Chin-Hsu said he was overwhelmed by the response to the campaign; "Teachers in Taiwan stand united to remind the government that education will be hurt if the government does not keep these publicly-made promises. Integrity is priceless - but most of all, it's the future generations that are at stake if we cannot provide them with adequate means for learning."

EI: governments must take education into account

The EI General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, supported the teachers of Taiwan in their cause. "Education is a major factor in the economic, democratic and social development of a country. It is important that governments take this into account," he said.