Emotional and Financial Support in Schools for Students with Divorced Parents

Mr Speaker, our schools monitor the well-being of students affected by divorce and other issues closely, and provide social, emotional and learning support for those in need. When the school is informed of a change in parents’ marital status by either the parents or the students, the teachers will check in with the students and assess their needs to decide what support is appropriate and necessary.

For students who exhibit emotional distress or social and behavioural changes, or where there is a need for counselling support, School Counsellors and Student Welfare Officers in school will provide individual counselling or group programmes for the students. They may also make referrals to community agencies such as Family Service Centres and Self-Help Groups to provide wrap-around support to the students and their family.

Students who require financial support can apply for the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) to meet essential school expenditure such as school and miscellaneous fees, textbooks and school uniforms, and transport and meal subsidies. There is also school-based financial assistance to provide further support for students who need additional aid.

While updates on marital information is based on voluntary disclosure by parents to schools, the teachers will look out for any changes in the behaviour of their students and follow up with these students and their parents when there is a cause for concern.

I thank the Minister. Will the Ministry also consider doing a study on children of divorced parents who have done well to understand how they have negated the challenges? And two, do the Counsellors also hand over the cases from Primary to Secondary schools for the more vulnerable ones, such as those on the UPLIFT programme?

Sir, I thank the Member for the questions. On the study of children of divorced parents who are doing well, I think it is very important for us to do that because if you look at the outcome of the recent study, whilst it is indicative that there could be some less favourable responses or outcomes of children of divorced parents, there are significant number of children of divorced parents who have done well, too. Certainly, divorce alone is not a causal factor to the outcomes of children. There are many factors – it is dependent on the way the divorce happens and on the support level given by parents post-divorce and throughout the lives of their children. It is really useful to understand the children of divorced parents who have done very well. And amongst us, I am very sure we all know that. I would encourage MSF to work together with MOE to venture into studying deeper with reference to children with positive outcomes and to look at factors that have made it possible for these children to have succeeded.

The second question is really whether we transfer information of children who have had challenges in Primary school, moving on to Secondary school. Prior to this, there is always this tension on whether we want to give children a fresh start when they get into Secondary school.

There are two schools of thought. One school of thought really is: we want to give them a second chance, a fair chance, even if they have had situations in Primary school, whether they had disciplinary problems, or issues in schools. When they start Secondary school, we want them to have a fresh start so that teachers do not see them with a certain mindset, a certain lens.

But we also understand that it is useful to transfer some of the information. What MOE has done now is to allow school leaders to have sight of some of these Primary school children who may have had some challenges while they were in Primary school, but not all teachers. School leaders will be able to make a determination. It is more about having sight of some of these students who come to the Secondary schools, not necessarily to make a judgement on them; more indicative. Should the child show some indication of challenges early, the school leaders would then be able to alert the school personnel, like the School Counsellors and the Student Welfare Officers, as well as some of his teachers, to be able to help the child.

From MOE's perspective, every child's well-being is of paramount concern, not just in terms of academic pursuits but also their emotional and social well-being.