MOE offers alternative school, still met with parents' refusal / 教部建議遷橋頭國小校本部 被家長拒絕　　　　　　　　　　

Students at Xucuo were supposed to relocate to Fengreng Elementary school, which is 10 kilometers away. But now the parents have another choice, Chiaotou Elementary School, which is just some 5 kilometers away. However, even with transport arranged for the students, the parents are still unwilling to relocate their kids. Several government agencies have called on the parents to allow their children to go to school at Chiaotou. Aug. 29 was the first day of term for elementary school students. Yunlin County Chiaotou Elementary School had prepared six classrooms for the students from Xucuo Branch Elementary School. However, the parents still refused to let their children attend classes there. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education and the Environmental Protection Administration held a joint pres conference on Aug. 29. The Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung called on the parents not to gamble on their children's health and take preventive measures. ==PAN WEN-CHUNG, Minister of Education== Originally, half of the parents were willing to send their children back to Chiaotou Elementary School. Later in the discussion process the outcome was mutually influenced. National Taiwan University College of Public Health Dean Chen Wei-jian, taking the example of gangrene in the 1960s sat at the time Professor Chen Hong-bei suspected that this was related to levels of arsenic. It wasn't until 20 years later that he obtained specific proof. Chen said that environmental pollution adversely affected health and could not be taken lightly. The EPA stressed that from Aug. 31, it would send staff to the petroleum processing plant to test pollution. ==CHEN WEI-JIAN Dean, NTU College of Public Health Dean== Sometimes we cannot obtain proof, but we still have to take certain measures otherwise when something really obvious does come up, when it becomes a clinical case, then it's too late. ==LEE YING-YUAN EPA Minister== Altogether there are four plants and 7 processing plants with 115,000 components. We will inspect them all. The MOE emphasized that from Aug. 30 they would arrange transport for students to go to and from Chiaotou Elementary School, together with free school lunches and they hoped that parents would not impede their children's right to education. If parents still refused they would ask Yunlin County government to continue to negotiate with them, but would not fine them. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 今天(8/29)是國小開學日，雲林縣橋頭國小校本部的六間教室，課桌椅都已排排好，教室空間很寬敞，不過許厝分校的學童家長，還是不領情，堅持回分校上課。衛福部、教育部及環保署，下午大動作召開記者會，教育部長潘文忠再次呼籲家長，不要把孩子的健康當賭注，應及早接受預防性安置。 ==教育部長 潘文忠== 將近一半以上的家長 他本來是願意回到橋頭國小 來讓學生來上課 只是後來可能在討論過程當中 有產生了一些互相的影響啦 到底預防性遷校有多重要？台大公衛學院院長陳為堅，以1960年代烏腳病為例，當時陳拱北教授，也只是懷疑與砷濃度有關，結果過了20年才獲得證實，他強調環境汙染引發的健康問題，不能輕忽。而環保署也強調，從8月31號起，將派員到六輕駐廠，稽查檢測空污狀況。 ==台大公衛學院院長 陳為堅== 我們有時候沒辦法得到(因果) 非常明確的時候呢 就必須要採取措施啊 不然一旦他出現非常明顯的 臨床的傷害 那就沒辦法挽回了 ==環保署長 李應元== 總共有4個廠 7個製程 1萬5千個設備元件 我們都會來進行相關的檢查 教育部強調，明天起會安排交通車，接送學童到橋頭國小校本部上課，免費營養午餐也會供應，希望家長不要侵犯孩子的受教權，如果仍有家長拒絕遷校，還會請雲林縣政府持續溝通，但不會開罰。 記者 綜合報導