Debated in Parliament on 2 Nov 2020.
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education (a) whether details can be provided with regard to the plan to provide all secondary school students with laptops by 2021; (b) whether there will be direct provision of a standard laptop; and (c) whether there will also be complementary digital support measures to support the rollout of these laptops in schools.
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the plan for integrating the usage of laptops into the secondary school curriculum; and (b) whether such integration will be via a national syllabus or to be decided on a school-by-school basis.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) had announced earlier this year that as part of the National Digital Literacy Programme, every secondary student would have their own Personal Learning Device (PLD) by end 2021. Complemented by enhanced internet connectivity that we will provide to schools, PLDs will better support teaching and learning and develop students' digital literacies.
The tender for the PLDs has just been awarded and MOE is in the process of finalising the implementation details with the vendors involved. Schools will be able to select from a range of device types in order to best meet their teaching and learning needs, as the intent is for all students in the school to be using the same PLD. We will provide more details on the roll-out of PLDs to schools by January 2021.
The secondary school curriculum already incorporates the use of digital tools for teaching and learning, many of which are integrated into the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS) platform. PLDs will complement these existing tools to enhance both in-class and home-based learning. MOE will provide schools with guidance on the effective use of PLDs. However, schools will have the autonomy to customise their integration of PLDs to better meet the learning needs of their students.
With the roll-out of PLDs, MOE will also provide further support to schools in the following areas:
Enhanced Cyber Wellness education under the revised Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum, to help students manage their use of PLDs in a safe and responsible manner;
Learning resources for the development of digital literacies to enable students to develop the dispositions, knowledge and skills to thrive in the digital environment;
Guides for students and parents, including tips on developing digital literacy and how parents can partner schools to support students' learning with PLDs; and
Additional technical support personnel for schools to ensure a smooth digital learning experience for students and teachers.
PAPERCUTS