ABSTRACT
After World War II, Taiwan devoted a great deal of effort to the development of education. Recognizing education as the bedrock of national competitiveness, the government began a 6-year compulsory education first to ensure that all children receive a good basic education. Later in 1968, as the society began to call for a higher level of education to meet the manpower needs for the economic development, the government decided to extend the basic education to 9 years (i.e., 6 years of elementary education and 3 years of junior high school education) and at the same time expanded the high school and college level of education, particularly in the technical and vocational fields. Such efforts have steadily increased the educational level of the general population over decades. Currently, the overall illiteracy rate in Taiwan is less than 2.5%, and the college-going rate for high school graduates has exceeded 90%. Education has undoubtedly produced higher quality manpower for the economic development in Taiwan and thus played an important role in making Taiwan one of the economic powers in the world.
