【Media Coverage】54-Year-Old Paiwan Grandmother Earns Master's Degree Through Her Thesis
54-Year-Old Paiwan Grandmother Earns Master's Degree Through Her Thesis
By Wang Cheng-ping | Kaohsiung
Lin Ching-hua, a 54-year-old Paiwan grandmother and student in the Executive Master's Program for Indigenous Peoples at the Department of Sociology, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), works as an Indigenous employment counselor. Combining her professional experience with academic research, she completed a master's thesis examining the employment conditions of Indigenous youth with higher education, aiming to help narrow the education and career gaps between Indigenous peoples and the broader population. She graduated with distinction after successfully defending her thesis.
Drawing on the 2021 Employment Service Survey Report published by the Council of Indigenous Peoples, Lin found that although educational opportunities for Indigenous peoples have improved and the unemployment rate has approached the national average, their average monthly income still lags behind by approximately NT$10,000, with nearly half of Indigenous workers earning less than NT$30,000 per month. Through interviews with nearly twenty Indigenous young adults, she discovered that many had to support themselves financially while pursuing higher education. In her work, she also observed a long-standing shortage of Indigenous professionals in engineering and technology fields such as electrical engineering, electronics, and computer science, making it difficult for employers to fill positions reserved for Indigenous applicants.
Fondly nicknamed the "youngest grandmother" by her classmates, Lin reflected on the many challenges she faced while pursuing her degree. During her graduate studies, her daughter became pregnant, her mother fell seriously ill, and she had to juggle work, household responsibilities, caring for her daughter, and making frequent hospital visits to look after her mother. Six months before graduation, she also welcomed her first grandchild, making her daily life even busier. Nevertheless, she continued writing her thesis late into the night whenever she could find time, ultimately completing her degree with outstanding results.