With mountain accidents occurring frequently, Taitung County Government revitalized an unused school building and applied for Huadong Fund subsidies to transform the now-closed Haiduan Township’s Xiaobaihsi Branch of Heiding Elementary School into the nation’s first “Mountain-Facing School.” Officially opened on the 28th, it serves as a training center for mountain education across the county and allows students to experience the culture of coexisting with nature in the mountains.
The main advocate behind mountain-facing education is Du Lifang, mother of Zhang Bowei who died in a 2011 mountain accident on Hehuanshan in Nantou. Thanks to her active efforts, Taitung County Government repurposed the unused former Xiaobaihsi Branch to establish the country’s first Mountain-Facing School, which was officially inaugurated yesterday. Du Lifang commended Magistrate Huang Jiann-teng and the Taitung County Government for their long-term vision. She noted that the Mountain-Facing School will not only offer mountaineering courses but also focus on safety in mountain environments and at the increasing number of mountain entry points.
Huang Jiann-teng stated that the goal of the Mountain-Facing School is to cultivate outdoor education experience activities and promote seed teachers for mountain education, strengthen the professional capabilities of outdoor education teaching in schools, and develop elementary and junior high school mountain education experience courses. Courses will be conducted in one-week sessions for relevant schools across the county, and a two-day, one-night study tour program will also be designed to attract participants from other counties, cities, or abroad.
The Education Bureau said that through the curriculum planning of the Mountain-Facing School, students can personally explore and experience the culture of harmonious coexistence with nature in the mountains, fostering ecological conservation awareness among them. It also aims to spread awareness about mountain safety. The bureau hopes that the tragedy of Bowei will not be repeated. Once the Mountain-Facing School is fully established, its resources will be shared for use nationwide.