Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:30If it's free now, then the money won't be refunded to the parents,
00:00:34right?
00:00:35?
00:00:39Then the lunch will still be the full portion for the whole class, and it won't be reduced to
00:00:43the portion for students who apply for it. This might indeed cause some waste
00:00:47here. There should be a fixed subsidy,
00:00:50and parents can additionally add fees through a democratic mechanism.
00:00:54The first part of this, of course, will not exacerbate the so-called local finances.
00:00:58加 加 深 所 谓 的 地 方 财 。
00:01:21But behind it hides complex financial challenges. Looking at the prices of nutritious lunches for students in the six major cities in the first semester of 2025,
00:01:25Taipei City is about
00:01:2976% to 86 yuan per person per meal, and New Taipei City is the second highest,
00:01:32about 75 yuan per meal. In Taoyuan and Taichung,
00:01:36it's only in the sixties, and in Tainan, the price of a meal at elementary schools
00:01:40is about 53 yuan. Given the reality of varying
00:01:44local financial conditions, free nutritious lunches may create new
00:01:48inequalities and widen the gap between urban and rural areas.
00:01:52Although every place has free meals today, are they all getting
00:01:56the same? So some local governments may have a little more funding.
00:03:27If they can't make it up, they'll just have to fight.
00:04:00The annual budget for nutritious lunches in Taichung City has exceeded 2
00:04:04billion yuan.
00:04:14Free nutritious lunches have been implemented, and huge expenditures may
00:04:18crowd out other education funds. Perhaps what was
00:04:22originally planned as secondary or less important in the ranking
00:04:26might be replaced. Because this is actually a very realistic
00:04:30policy. If under this policy, with the same money,
00:04:34when it's allocated, some may get a little less. The free nutritious
00:04:37lunch policy not only involves the issue of participation fees,
00:04:41but also the design of the system is being discussed. When
00:04:45all 22 counties and cities join the subsidy, what is being tested
00:04:49is not only the leadership of the county and city mayors, but also the integrity of the national
00:04:53system. How to balance financial sustainability and
00:04:56the stability of public meal quality has become the top priority.
00:07:13All need support. The legislation for the nutritious lunch law is currently ongoing,
00:07:17with cross-party negotiations. When free
00:07:21nutritious lunches become a consensus across Taiwan, how to clarify the responsibilities
00:07:25of the central and local governments, establish stable funding and
00:07:28unified norms, so that children's right to food is not affected by
00:07:32urban-rural disparities or financial will determine whether this is a
00:07:36policy fireworks or a long-term
00:07:39commitment to the next generation.
00:13:26If we think positively, then it's a good
00:13:30ending. On the whiteboard, writing paragraphs is what
00:13:33Mr. Wei Li, an elementary school teacher who just turned 20,
00:13:37usually does. Besides preparing lessons and teaching, checking students'
00:13:41homework and grading exams are also his daily
00:13:44work.
00:13:46。
00:13:50From arriving at school at around 7 am, the teacher's day is packed.
00:13:53凑 ,
00:13:55I feel very rushed,
00:14:15we just spent all the time in the meeting,
00:14:19what should we do if we don't eat for those 40 minutes?
00:14:22?
00:14:55It was originally my time to rest or eat.
00:14:59Taking elementary school as an example, each grade has half-day
00:15:03classes every week. Before the free nutritious lunch was implemented,
00:15:07some schools did not provide meals for half-day classes. After school, if the children
00:15:10did not participate in after-school care classes, they would be picked up by tutoring centers
00:15:14or taken home by their parents to arrange their own lunch.
00:15:18But now that free meals are universally provided, even
00:15:22for half-day classes,
00:16:07it's just adding an extra lunch box and having the teacher eat with them.
00:16:11What's so hard about that? What it easily overlooks is its hidden cost.
00:16:15Because parents now have various expectations, if you eat too much,
00:16:19they'll complain to the teacher, and if you eat too little, they'll think the teacher didn't supervise
00:16:22well. When students are eating, they're always
00:16:26playing around, making a mess, and it's all the teacher's problem. Therefore, teachers are very afraid
00:16:30of eating with them. From serving to continuing to eat,
00:16:34it seems like it's just keeping students for one more meal.
00:18:07But if you're in class,
00:18:11and you have to take care of students, it means the teacher is sacrificing their
00:18:14health and their lunch break, and then they have to
00:18:18put in extra effort to take care of them. I think this puts a little
00:18:22bit of pressure on the teachers. Teachers' workload has increased,
00:18:26and they often cannot eat normally at lunchtime.
00:18:29However, in this situation, the free lunch policy
00:18:33mostly subsidizes only students, not including
00:19:07teachers. Whether or not teachers have free lunch has never
00:19:11been the core issue. The real dilemma is
00:19:14that as the responsibility of caring for students continues to increase,
00:19:18even the most basic meal time is being squeezed.
00:19:22Compared to an extra free meal, what they look forward
00:19:25to, perhaps, is just being able to sit down and finish a meal
00:19:29and prepare for class.
00:19:31。
00:20:50The ratio of teachers to students will increase from 1.7 to 1.75.
00:20:53In addition, junior high and elementary school homeroom teachers will have one less class.
00:23:20has reached 700 people. In the future, in our draft,
00:23:24we actually also retain some flexibility, allowing local
00:23:27governments to recruit a certain number of people
00:23:31in county and city governments.
00:23:34。
00:23:38is the original intention of the free nutritious lunch policy. But
00:23:42after the policy is implemented, how to ensure the needs of the teaching
00:23:46field and avoid the responsibility of care continuously falling on the front line.
00:23:52In terms of time, what is being tested is not only financial investment, but also whether the system design can truly
00:23:56help the voices of the education
00:23:59field.
00:24:03The original intention of promoting free nutritious lunches was to hope that every child could eat safely and
00:24:07nutritiously during their growth stage, but local governments' financial
00:24:10situations vary, and whether this may affect students'
00:24:52The Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa has seen a large influx of
00:24:56illegal immigrants due to online
00:24:58rumors.
00:25:06The water level of the main nuclear power plants has dropped, affecting the operation of nuclear power plants
00:25:09and waterway transportation. The economic losses in Central and Eastern Europe
00:25:13are unimaginable. Please stay tuned to the program
00:25:16.
00:28:42Teachers play an important role in each of our growth stages,
00:28:46but with the changes of the times, many teachers have reported that modern
00:28:50students no longer respect teachers as they used to, and some even
00:28:54physically assault or verbally abuse teachers. Incidents of teachers being bullied
00:28:58by students are not uncommon, especially for teachers who are supposed
00:29:02to impart knowledge and solve problems.
00:30:14Welcome to the 4 PM news. I'm Zhang Ning.
00:30:17。
00:30:21A strong gust of wind and heavy rain hit Taipei City. A temporary
00:30:25scaffold and banner on Minquan West Road were blown down by the strong wind.
00:30:29For more details on the scene, connect to reporter Cai Yong'en.