Students with Tattoos

Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) how serious is the problem of students who sport a tattoo on a visible part of the body; (b) what are the common reasons that a child will sport a tattoo; and (c) what is the policy on how to handle such pupils if the tattoo is on a visible part of the body.

Mdm Speaker, instances of students sporting tattoos on visible parts of the body are not frequent. Generally, schools encounter only a handful of such cases for older students.

Students in our schools are not allowed to have tattoos on visible parts of their body while in school uniform. Students sporting tattoos will either be asked to cover up their tattoos or to have them removed.

Tattooing may result from the students' need to express their personal identity, an act of defiance or to fit into certain social circles. Schools, therefore, provide counselling to help students work through possible underlying issues which have led them to sporting a tattoo. Schools also actively engage their parents to guide students in making healthy and right choices. In managing students with tattoos, schools adopt an educative approach.

I thank the Minister of State for the answer. The reason I asked this question is one of my residents who is an ex-school teacher actually gave an example of a student who found out that some schools may not allow students to come back to school until a tattoo is removed, which means that the child is out of school for some time. Others may allow the students to return as long as they sign an undertaking. In those circumstances, how long will the students be away and will it affect the child as well?

My second question is: in the future, if such instances increase, will MOE consider working with MHA to ensure parental consent is needed for minors, for example, at the moment, 14 and below, to do tattoos? For minors need parental consent before they can undertake tattoos as well.

Mdm Speaker, with respect to the first supplementary question, MOE provides broad guidelines around the principles of how tattoos are to be managed. But schools have their own specific ways of administering the counselling services, administering discipline, engaging with the parents and the students to enforce that. So, there are no strict absolutes in that process. If there are specific cases where perhaps the process is not working, the Member could let me know about the details and I could follow up.

With respect to the second issue, the process of tattooing happens outside the school environment, so there are some considerations about how that might be taken forward, but it is something we could explore.