On Aug. 30, parents from Xucuo Branch School in Yunlin came all the way to Taipei to protest the school closure. Around 300 parents protested at the Executive Yuan, demanding the government to change the decision. After an hour's discussion, no consensus between the two sides was reached. The Executive Yuan is adamant that for the children's health, they should be moved, therefore the parents say they will hold a even larger protest. Parents upset at the Executive Yuan decision to relocate students from Xucuo Branch School to another school 10 kilometers away on health grounds, came to protest at the Executive Yuan. They demanded that the EY overturn its decision. ==HAU FANG-YU Xucuo Branch School Parent== The EY did not clarify the source of contamination so we hope our children can stay at Xucuo to study. Parents say that the investigation the government asked the National Health Research Institutes to do which showed TdGA in the children's urine, did not clarify what the source of the pollution was. It made the decision that this was connected to the petroleum processing plant and only took samples from four schools. Based on this, the EY decided to relocate the school. The parents found this unacceptable. The parents entered the EY with their petition and had a meeting, but after an hour were still in deadlock. They promised to hold a larger protest. The Environmental Protection Administration Minister, Lee Ying-yuan, urged parents to think of the example of arsenic in the 1960's. As soon as gangrene caused by arsenic appeared, a village was relocated which prevented further damage to people's health. He hoped parents would be understanding about the necessity for relocation. ==CHEN CHIH-HSIEN Mailiao Township Wayao Village Head== We have been looking for a source of pollution for three years and have not found any. Today they tell us to relocate all of our students. We are going to go back and see how else we can fight this. ==LEE YING-YUAN Environmental Protection Administration Minister== We moved a village before because of gangrene, they said if we had waited until the sickness took hold it would be too late. So this is a heartfelt call, not to let children from Chiaotou Elementary School repeat our mistakes. The new school facilities are all complete On the second day of school, apart from two students who were on leave, the other 59 went to Xucuo Branch School in the morning for a roll call and picked up textbooks. Social workers and volunteers coached them and a teacher who retired from the school on Aug. 1, Hsu Yu-zhen, came back to help out. The two sides remain at loggerheads, with the government promising more negotiations and the parents, more protests. TRANSLATED BY:CLARE LEAR 不滿行政院22號做出雲林橋頭國小許厝分校必須遷校的決定,反對遷校的許厝分校家長們,30號北上行政院,大動作抗議,要求行政院收回成命。 ==許厝分校學生家長 許芳餘== 在沒有釐清汙染來源 希望說我們許厝分校的學生 能夠繼續留在現在 許厝分校繼續就讀 家長表示,政府委託國衛院做的健康調查,學童尿液裡驗出硫代二乙酸TDGA,但卻沒交代清楚汙染來源,逕自判斷和六輕有關,也只採樣四所學校,憑結果決定遷校,無法接受。家長進入行政院遞交陳情書,但雙方溝通一小時,仍未有共識,揚言發動更大規模抗議。但環保署長李應元仍呼籲,過去烏腳病就是早期發現,早早遷村才防止,希望家長能體諒安置的必要性。 ==雲林麥寮鄉瓦瑤村長 陳志賢== 汙染源找三年了還找不到 今天叫我們全鄉的中小學要遷 情何以堪 鄉親我們回去研究 全面抗爭 ==環保署長 李應元== 六十年前的烏腳病就遷村了 他講的 若等到病發作就太慢了 所以這是一個沉痛的呼籲 讓橋頭國小不要 重蹈以前那樣(錯誤) 這次的設備都非常的完整了 而開學第二天了,除2名學生請假外,其他59人都到許厝分校早點名,並且發回課本,由社工師、志工進行輔導,許厝分校退休老師許玉珍8月1日已經離校,但擔心學童,今天再度返校幫忙。 許厝分校遷校決議,行政院表示為學童健康著想,進行預防性安置,也理解民眾擴大健檢風評估需求,會協助分散風險控制,但政府和民間立場僵持不下,遷校爭議仍懸而未解。 記者 李曉儒 郭俊麟 SNG 台北報導
Parents and government in deadlock over school health hazard / 許厝分校家長北上政院 要求撤遷校決定
發布時間:
最後更新: