文／非獎學金華語學生
潘文忠部長：
你好。
在等待許久之後，華語獎學金學生終於能入境台灣，我們對此由衷感謝。然而，像我們這些沒有獎學金而希望到台灣學習華語的學生已經等了超過一年半，也應當得到繼續學習華語的機會。我們感覺被遺棄了，因為非獎學金華語學生入台方面的規劃沒有絲毫進展。鑑於台灣及全球疫情漸趨穩定，我們呼籲教育部儘速協助非華語獎學金學生入境台灣。
我們大部份人是來自全球不同國家的學生，共同的目標是到台灣學習華語。我們跟華語獎學金學生唯一的不同只是我們沒有獲得台灣任何官方的獎學金。由於邊境管制繼續把我們阻擋在台灣門外，我們已經在不確定性中等待了太久。正如我們的獎學金華語生同儕，我們同樣對於在台灣學習華語非常堅定。然而，不同於獎學金學生，我們並沒有被給予相同的學習機會。我們之中很多人已經失去太多機會：有些人在等待中浪費了大把的時間；有些人為更專注學習華語而失去工作；有些人為了有一天能回去一直在支付著台灣的房租，等等。儘管我們的情況令人難過，當台灣為部份學生開啟國門，我們這一群人最終卻被教育部遺棄。
2021年4月1日，當第一批華語獎學金學生能夠返台時，教育部承諾，將根據台灣境內疫情的變化適時考慮協助其他類型的學生入境。這意味著，如果疫情趨緩，非獎學金的華語學生也有機會入台。將近半年過去了，令人欣喜的是台灣內新冠肺炎疫情已經穩定下來。與此同時，全球新增案例及新增死亡病例也在不久前達到過去一年以來的新低。因此，我們要求潘文忠部長兌現承諾，儘速協助非獎學金華語學生入境求學，讓我們能繼續學業。
其他一些國家如加拿大、美國以及一些歐盟國家也開始放寬邊境管制，加上台灣疫情防控效果顯著，我們認為此刻是恰當的時機，去考慮讓華語非獎學金學生繼續學業。我們呼求的是給我們的未來一個確定的答覆。
此外，台灣想成為全世界人們學習華語的主要目的地，但是目前邊境管制措施恰恰違背這個目標。這個排除華語學生的政策證不僅正在對於學生造成很多負面影響，很多華語老師也因此丟掉工作，更不用說台灣的很多華語學習中心幾乎人去樓空。
教育部建議我們可以在邊境管制放鬆之前在線學習華語，但是過往經驗已經證明線上學習效果不彰，特別是對於語言學習來說。如果我們能夠在華語環境中學習，能夠在日常生活中每天練習，學習效果必定更好。對於生活在非華語環境中的人來說，學習華語極度困難，線上學習根本不是可行的選項。
如果我們能夠入境台灣，我們必定會遵守防疫規定，並願意進行14天隔離和7天自主健康管理。我們希望在台灣的人們能如常生活，我們境外生一定會尊重台灣防疫規定，以防新冠疫情的入侵。
總而言之，我們想重申，不管有沒有獎學金，所有學生都應該同樣享有繼續學業的機會。
我們希望潘文忠部長和教育部能夠遵守承諾，展現出一個負責任的政府部門該有的作為。
非獎學金華語學生
謹啟
2021/10/19
————————————————————————–
Dear Minister [of Education] Pan [Wen-chung (潘文忠)],
We are grateful that HES students were finally able to enter Taiwan after waiting for so long. However, those who do not have scholarships like us also deserve to continue our studies, as we have also been waiting for over a year and a half. Therefore, we feel abandoned since there has been no progress whatsoever regarding non-scholarship-recipient Chinese language students. As the pandemic in Taiwan and other countries stabilizes, we call for the Ministry of Education to help non-scholarship Chinese language students return to Taiwan.
Many of us come from different countries around the world and our common goal is to study Chinese in Taiwan. The only difference between HES students and non-HES students is that we have not obtained any scholarship from the Taiwanese government. As borders restrictions continue to apply for us, we have already been in a situation of uncertainty for too long. As our fellow HES Chinese students, we feel a strong commitment to studying Mandarin in Taiwan, but unlike them, we were never given the possibility to do so. Many of us have missed many opportunities: some of us have wasted our time due to this waiting period we find ourselves in, some have lost their jobs to devote time to the study of the Chinese language, some have been spending money on rent hoping to return to Taiwan one day, along with other different situations. Despite our saddening circumstances, we all ended up being abandoned by the Ministry of Education when Taiwan opened its borders again for some students.
On April 1st 2021, when the first batch of HES students was able to enter Taiwan, MOE stated that it would also start considering the entrance of other types of students subject to the evolution of the pandemic in the country, which means non-scholarship students would be given the chance to enter Taiwan if the situation of the pandemic improves. Almost half a year has elapsed, and gladly, the COVID-19 pandemic has already stabilized in Taiwan. Meanwhile, new cases and new deaths worldwide have come to their lowest point since last year. Consequently, we demand Minister Pan fulfil his promises and allow non-scholarship students to enter Taiwan as soon as possible so we are able to continue our education.
Other countries such as Canada, the US and some in the European Union also began to relax their border restriction, and we think that it is the right time to consider non-scholarship Chinese language students to continue their study as the situation in Taiwan has improved drastically. All we are asking for is certainty over our futures.
Furthermore, Taiwan wants to become the main destination for learning Mandarin Chinese, but current border restrictions contradict this objective. This let-language-students-out policy is causing a lot of side effects, not only to students but also to a lot of Chinese language teachers who have lost their jobs, let alone Chinese Language Centers around the country being almost empty.
MOE suggested that we study Chinese online until borders restrictions can be loosened, but online learning has proved to be less effective, especially when it comes to language learning. It is better to learn Mandarin if we learn it in a place where the language is spoken daily so we can practice it every day. It is extremely difficult for someone who does not live in a Mandarin-speaking environment to learn the language effectively, so online learning is not a plausible option at all.
When we are finally allowed to enter Taiwan, we will undoubtedly follow any safe protocol, and we will willingly undergo the 14-day quarantine and 7-day self-health management. We want the people of Taiwan to continue living their lives as normal, and we foreign students will always respect their rules to prevent COVID-19 from entering the country.
To conclude, we would like to add that every student deserves to have the chance to continue learning, regardless they have been awarded a scholarship or not.
We hope that Minister Pan and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan will keep their words as a responsible department of the Taiwanese Government.
Sincerely,
Non-scholarship Chinese Language Students
2021/10/19
