The management and operation of the Der Swe Yuan Education Center for persons with disabilities (德水園身心障礙教養院) has been commissioned by Taichung City Government to the Tong Chuan Sheng Cultural and Educational Foundation(童傳盛文教基金會) for the past 10 years. A contract renewal ceremony was held on June 16, in which a new management and operation contract for another 10 years was signed by Lue Jen-der (呂建德), Director-general of Social Affairs Bureau and Tong Rui-nian (童瑞年), chairman of the Tong Chuan Sheng Cultural and Educational Foundation. A movie was shown to review Der Swe Yuan’s achievements in the past decade.

Social Affairs Bureau said that in the past 10 years, the Der Swe Yuan Education Center has provided services to 177 persons with disabilities. Its services include life care, rehabilitation, education and training for job skills, and so on. The Der Swe Yuan was rated “Excellent” among all the welfare agencies in the country in 2014. To extend such excellent services to more persons with disabilities, Social Affairs Bureau has thus decided to renew the contract with Tong Chuan Sheng Foundation for the next 10 years

Lue Jen-der, Director-general of Social Affairs Bureau, said “I appreciate the contribution of Der Swe Yuan Education Center very much. The land of Der Swe Yuan was donated by Mr. Wu De-shui (吳德水) to the former Taichung County Government, which set up the Der Swe Yuan Education Center for persons with disabilities in 2004 and began to look for the operator from the private sector. After running through a lot of twists and turns, the operation of Der Swe Yuan was finally outsourced to the Tong Chuan Sheng Cultural and Educational Foundation and the Education Center was officially opened to the public on July 10, 2005.”

“Der Swe Yuan Education Center is not only the largest public-owned but private-operated welfare agency in central Taiwan but also the first successful case commissioned to private management in accordance with the ‘Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects,’” added Director-general Lue.

The contract renewal ceremony was first ushered in by the drum performance of students of the Der Swe Yuan Education Center. A movie was also shown to commemorate the ups and downs of Der Swe Yuan in the past decade. Meanwhile, the parent-child interactive computer classroom set up by the Atomy Corporation(艾多美公司) was also inaugurated to provide computer training for students in Der Swe Yuan.