After the city-county consolidation programs take effect at the end of the year, more than 100 senior high and vocational schools will be reassigned from national to municipal jurisdictions. But many worry that the schedule may be too tight. After further consideration, the Ministry of Education announced this week that a preparatory period of 20 months will be added to ensure a smooth transition process.

After the five municipality elections, the cities and counties of Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Taichung will unify and upgrade into municipalities.

Afterwards, 60 national public high schools and 83 private high schools will transferred to the jurisdiction of the municipals of these six cities and counties.

The Minister of the MOE, Wu Ching-ji, says that the new municipals will be given 20 months to prepare for the transition.

In other words, these high schools will not be under the jurisdiction of the municipals until August 2012.

However, the director-general of the Department of Education of Taichung city, Zhang Guang-ming, insists that the transition should not take place until August 2015.

He says that the 19 high schools in Taichung need NT$4.1 billlion in funds, and that with only NT$9.8 billion allocated for all of the schools considered, the quality of education may be compromised.

The MOE hopes to make the transition in 2012 while Taichung city insists it won't ready until 2015.

It will take a lot of negotiation and communication to find a middle ground, but one thing is for sure - Wu Ching-ji promises that despite the unification of the cities and counties, MOE will continue to distribute funds and the schools will not be affected.

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