An education reform group held a press conference earlier this week to protest the existing policies on Taiwan's Chinese language education, which many believe are responsible for the younger generations' declining writing skills. The group also condemns the government's plan to add more English classes to the elementary school curriculum, calling it a case of mistaken priorities.

In the past, junior high and high school students studied classic Chinese texts including Qian Gongfu's "Yi Tian Ji" and Qu Yuan's "Guo Shang."

Both of these were eliminated from syllabuses over the course of 14 years of educational reform.

Over the same period, the number of Chinese language classes at elementary and high schools has been slashed in half and by one-third, respectively.

Experts are condemning the government's educational reforms, saying that while Chinese language studies have become a worldwide trend, Taiwan is moving in the opposite direction.

According to an alliance that is trying to save the language, nations across Asia, including China, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam have begun placing a heavier emphasis on Chinese cultural education in recent years.

Taiwan, however, has cut the ratio of high school classical Chinese classes from 65% to 45%.

Experts are questioning how the Ministry of Education can inject huge sums into launching English classes at elementary schools when Taiwanese children lack a basic Chinese language foundation.

As a 12-year compulsory education policy will be launched in 2014, the alliance feels that the MOE needs to launch a comprehensive review of its programs and improve the deficient language abilities of students.