Debated in Parliament on 11 Jul 2018.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Education (a) how many ITE students are currently eligible for financial assistance; (b) how many of these eligible students have applied for assistance; and (c) how does ITE publicise the assistance schemes so that eligible students do not miss it.
Mr Speaker, we want to provide quality and affordable education to all Singaporeans regardless of their financial circumstances. For higher education, there are significant subsidies at all levels. Specifically, Institute of Technical Education (ITE) course fees are funded at over 90% subsidy. In addition, the Government provides a range of financial assistance schemes (FASs) for students who need further assistance.
The Ministry of Education (MOE)'s financial assistance schemes are designed to support up to two-thirds of our students. In Academic Year 2016, over 70% of students at ITE received some form of financial aid or scholarships, such as the Community Development Council/Citizens' Consultative Committees Bursary and MOE Bursary. There are also merit-based scholarships that similarly defray students' fees and school-related expenses, as well as other financial assistance schemes offered by foundations, self-help groups and other community or private organisations.
ITE has been increasing its outreach efforts to encourage and assist needy students to apply for the various FASs. These efforts include (a) sharing information on FAS widely via ITE's website, Facebook, student handbook, student portals and through booths and briefings during orientation; (b) proactively reaching out to students who were previously on FAS in Secondary school, and those who had indicated potential of requiring assistance, and prompting them to apply for FASs. In addition, its Class Advisors will also keep an active look-out for students who may need help in the course of the school year.
Mr Speaker, I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the answers. I have two supplementary questions for him. The first question is: in terms of the numbers that he has shared, 90% of the subsidies given out to students in ITE, what percentiles are we targeting here in terms of income levels?
The second question is: what more can we do potentially for the ITE students who need help? The Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned that the Ministry briefs those Secondary schools earlier for those going into ITE. And what more can we do to help? Going forward, how are we going to communicate more to the students? In Toa Payoh East-Novena, for example, some students and their parents would come to see me repeatedly, not aware of some of the assistance schemes that are available to them in school, including the ECG and also other financial assistance.
Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. I mentioned in my speech earlier that over 70% of the students receive some form of financial help and this is different from the 90% subsidy that we give to ITE students. So, 70% is very close to our intended coverage of Government bursaries for Singapore Citizens where we would like to cover up to the 66th percentile of households by income. So, we want to not only help the low-income but also the middle income.
We will continue to enhance our efforts in reaching out to the students and we will continue to look at the processes and how we can streamline. One good example of how we are going to streamline is that we have the MOE ComCare Shared Assessment where the students in ITE whose families are already on ComCare assistance, when they are being assessed for ComCare assistance, we will also look at the eligibility of the students for Government bursaries at ITE, so that they do not have to fill up the form twice or take up the approach again. In this way, we will be able to streamline the process, make it easier for them. This is expected to take place or to start in the second half of this year.
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