Taipei, June 11 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian received a group of aboriginal junior high school students from Nantou County in central Taiwan Friday who won an annual national English theater performance contest earlier this month.
Chen said he was very pleased to see the young aboriginal students from Tungfu Junior High School in Nantou County's Hsinyi village win the top prize in the junior high school section of the 2004 student English drama contest.
It was the first time in recent memory that students from aboriginal communities have taken part in the annual English theater performance competition and Tungfu, situated in the mountains of Nantou, was the only non-urban region school that got to the finals of the competition.
With limited resources and a primitive living environment, Chen said, Tungfu students and teachers overcame various difficulties to win the top prize with repeated practice and perseverance. "We have seen a glimpse of hope for the younger generation of aborigines through your achievements," Chen said.
Chen lauded the school's two teachers -- Wang Ming-teh and Hsieh Tien-jen -- for their dedication to educational work in the remote aboriginal community. "Your selfless devotion has borne fruit and you have set a good model for aboriginal education," Chen told the two teachers.
Wang gave up the opportunity to teach at a school in metropolitan Taipei and came to Hsinyi to teach at Tungfu Junior High School a few years ago, while Hsieh gave up a management position at a computer company in California's Silicon Valley to return to Taiwan to teach at the aboriginal school.
Chen encouraged all Tungfu students to continue studying hard and cultivate an international perspective in order to better cope with the challenges posed by the current wave of globalization.
Also present at the meeting at the Presidential Office were Education Minister Tu Cheng-sheng, Tungfu Junior High School Principal Wu Ming-shun and Yuhani, a national policy adviser of aboriginal descent.