In education news, the latest results of the North Star program were announced this week, with a total of 1,990 teenage students getting early admissions to high schools in Taipei City. And the overall acceptance rate this time is just 34%.

9th grader Lin Fu-yang has a great academic record.

He was ranked the top one percentile in the first five semesters during his middle school years.

Although he is likely to get admitted to a top-tiered public high school through the joint entrance exam, he is admitted by Sungshan high school through the school recommendation program.

This year's North Star test-free admission program of Taipei City offers 2,409 slots and received 5,818 applications.

In the end, 1,990 students are admitted.

While the recruitment rate is as high as 82%, the admission rate is only 34%.

Some students say this program gives them less pressure compared to the joint entrance exam.

To follow Ministry of Education's expansion policy of test-free admission program, public high schools of Taipei City should provide at least 40% of admission slots next year.

This would be 4 times than the total slots combined in the two years.

The Bureau of Education says it would expand the slots of community high schools but it needs more discussion on star schools.