New School-based Student Care Centres

Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has determined which are the schools that the 40 new school-based Student Care Centres (SCCs) will be located in; (b) what criteria does the Ministry use to determine the location of these SCCs; and (c) whether the Ministry has completed its study with the Ministry of Social and Family Development on the demand pattern for SCCs and, if so, whether the findings of the study can be made public.

Student Care Centres (SCCs) or After-school Care Centres provide students with a convenient, structured and supportive environment after school. The majority of SCCs are sited within the community, but as many parents have given positive

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feedback on school-based SCCs, MOE has steadily expanded the number and capacity of school-based SCCs to complement the community-based SCCs. In fact, I have visited several of these centres. I have spoken to parents and students and I appreciate the value that these centres bring to the students.

From less than 50 school-based SCCs in 2011, we have steadily expanded the numbers. I announced at this year's Committee of Supply Debate that we would expand the number of school-based SCCs by a further 40, to 120 by 2015, and had shared the names of the 21 schools that would be setting up their school-based SCCs by end-2014. We are on target to set up an additional 19 school-based SCCs by end-2015. We will announce details of where these centres are in due course and will also provide an update on our plans for 2016.

Our approach is to assess localised needs. We actively support Primary schools with demand for student care services to set up or expand school-based SCCs, taking into account the infrastructure in the schools and the demands in the schools.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa has asked if we would encourage more VWOs to set up After-school Care Centres near neighbourhood schools. MOE will work with MSF on this.

We understand that there is demand for SCC services, and will continue to work with MSF and SCC operators to increase the number of SCC places both in our Primary schools and in the community. At the same time, MOE and MSF are mindful that any expansion must be done at a pace that allows us to maintain quality and affordability.

I thank the Minister for the answer. I would like to know that for the rest of the Primary schools, which number approximately 70, that will not be having these school-based Student Care Centres (SCCs), does the Ministry feel that they do not have the need for such facilities. And is this backed by any extensive survey? I had also asked this question in the Parliamentary Question (PQ), but I do not think it was answered.

The next supplementary question is: will the Ministry set a plan for a more ambitious target to have all Primary schools to have school-based SCCs and, if so, by when?

Lastly, I would like to know whether there will be any plan jointly by MOE and MSF to look at how to encourage more operators and teachers into this sector. For example, there are some schemes in the pre-schools, such as training grants, set-up grants and fee subsidies for all Singapore parents. So, while there are some schemes currently in place for SCCs, would the Minister agree that the support level for student care is currently far less than what is given out in the pre-school sector, and it may be hard to encourage operators and

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teachers into this sector under the current arrangements?

I thank Mr Yee for his question. I think the Member's first two questions are similar, which is what is our view on the number. As I have mentioned, first, we got to look at this in perspective. We have over 300 SCCs in the community already. When we started, we had less than 50. I announced at successive Budget debates, during our Committee of Supply debates, a very steady expansion in our SCCs in our schools. I have also mentioned how we look at the needs in the school on a localised level and we expand it steadily. So, the Member's question as to whether we have a view of how many more SCCs we need, the answer is yes, we do. And where there is a demand, we will try and meet those demands. But any expansion has to be done taking into account the need for quality and affordability. This is not an area where you expand in a haphazard way.

As to the Member's third question as to whether we could look at schemes to encourage more operators and teachers to get into this area, this is a subject that we are studying. We will see what we might do.

But let me say that the student care centres, apart from those that are school-based, the value that they bring is not just in providing an after-school care service. The value that they bring is in working with our schools. We are also looking at the very operational aspects of it, as to how we can enhance the value if they are based in the schools.

Thank you, Madam. While I appreciate the effort by MOE to increase the number of student care centres – 40 as stated by the Minister – clearly from the demand that we see on the ground, we need these faster and we need even more centres. I know of centres that have 30 places, but they have a waiting list of another 50 students. I hope that the Minister sees that we can speed this up and provide more places.

The second question is whether we can better harness the VWOs, both the capabilities that they have and the passion that they have for getting into student care. We used to have this in the past and I thought we should look at further incentives or even some concessionary rates for them to use the void deck space for student care centres. The schools may not all have the space for student care centres, or to gear up so quickly. In conjunction with the schools ramping up capacity, maybe the VWOs can also play a part.

Thirdly, would MOE consider having MOE-run student care centres? I understand that most of these are handed out by way of GeBIZ to private commercial operators. Similar to

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how MOE runs the MOE Kindergartens, MOE can look at doing their own student care centres as well.

I thank Mr Liang for his follow-up questions. First, whether we can speed up the setting up of student care centres, I would like to do things as quickly as possible. But I think the key, as I had mentioned, is that we got to ensure that quality is maintained. To the extent that these operators and the staff are coming into contact with our students, we want to ensure that the right people are attracted to this sector and that they are doing the right things.

On whether we should work with VWOs, in fact, some of the VWOs which are operating in the student care centres – whether in the community or school-based ones – have done a good job. We are indeed looking at how we can work with VWOs in expanding these student care centres.

On the Member's third question on whether MOE should run the student care centres ourselves, MOE has a very big plate already. We have many issues to tackle. What I would like to add is that many of our schools do run programmes for our students after school. As a school system, compared to many other school systems in the world, we run a very large number of programmes in our Primary and Secondary schools – CCAs, club activities, having students stay back in the library to study and so on. We run a very large number of programmes. Therefore, even though students may not be in a student care centre, many of them do stay back in the school and are provided with a wide range of enrichment and other activities.

Thank you, Madam. I can empathise with the demands that many of us make on MOE for cheaper, faster, better facilities. So, I am sorry to add on to the Minister's load. I would like to enquire if MOE can consider conducting a study of the needs and the very vocal demands of families of the students with more challenging requirements – those with special needs, whether in mainstream schools or special schools.

There have been quite a lot of demands for that, but the solution is really not easy. I would like to ask if the Minister can consider starting a workgroup to look into various more innovative solutions, perhaps, a continuum of solutions that involve enrichment centres, parents pulling together with their helpers and so on. We want to come up with solutions that can address this need to keep the children better occupied after official school hours, whether they are special needs or not, whether they are in mainstream schools or not. I

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would like the Minister to consider that.

I thank Ms Denise Phua for her suggestion and we will certainly look into that. In fact, we are always looking at the requirements and what can be done to bring out the best in our students. We thank her for her suggestion.

Thank you, Madam. I would like to ask the Minister a question. Firstly, I understand the move to have more school-based student care centres. I would like to ask the Minister whether the Ministry is open to considering on a case-by-case basis, perhaps, to give adequate support to VWOs setting up student care centres within communities, especially with rental blocks.

Why I am saying this is because, currently, an example that I know of is Brighton Student Care Centre. It is located at one of the largest rented blocks in my area – about 500-600 units in the block. For the subsidy that they are benefiting from, there is a great disparity between what they are able to receive versus what a school-based student care operator may get. This is causing quite a financial strain on them, even as they are doing this not for profit and even as they are doing this to serve the community to help the lower income families. So, I hope that the Minister will be open to considering at least on a case-by-case basis to provide adequate support for some of these VWOs trying to provide student care services within the community.

I thank Ms Tin Pei Ling for her suggestion. I have visited some of these centres as well. Indeed, many of them are doing a good job. We will study this together with MSF on what we can do – whether the solution is in the student care centre or in some other form, we will look at it and see how we might enable the students, whatever their background, to continue to make progress.

It is true that many schools have after-school programmes. However, they are not regular. They are not at a fixed timing. Therefore, for parents who are working, they do not have the peace of mind. They would like to have school-based care centres. A lot of my residents feel that because some centres are not in the school, it incurs additional transport and, sometimes, it is not convenient as well. I would like to ask the Minister, is there a plan to have school-based student care centre in every Primary school? If there is not, what is the reason? If there is, what is the plan and timeline?

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Indeed, Mdm Speaker, I have responded to that question. As I have said earlier on, we have to look at it in perspective. In 2011, we started with about 50 centres. I visited several of these school-based centres myself. I have seen the details of the operations and I appreciate what they could do for our students as they work with our schools. That is the reason why I have a very deliberate policy of expanding the number of school-based student care centres, taking into account the needs and demands, not just in school-based centres but also in the community. There has been a steady expansion, which has allowed us to maintain quality.

Now that the school-based student care centres have been seen to benefit many students, the demand has grown. The more we do, the greater the demand! I am cognisant of this. I have a lot of empathy for working parents and how they would like better facilities. At the same time, we have to look at the different phases in which our schools are undergoing in terms of infrastructure and demand, and the community-based centres which are already serving some of these schools. Any expansion has to take into account a number of these factors. Most important of all, I want to ensure that the quality is maintained.

We will continue to work hard on all these. As I said to Mr Liang earlier on, I would like to do it as fast as possible, like all Members here. But at the same time, I need to ensure that any centre that is based in a school is of a certain quality and that we are able to assure parents that that quality is maintained and that I do not do it at such a pace that it is going to affect the affordability as well.

Thank you, Madam. Just a quick clarification from the Minister. The Minister stated that there are already over 300 centres in the community. I would like to know whether these are dedicated for student care services or do they also include tuition centres with only a limited space for student care. In the MSF list that I went through, many of the centres that are listed as student care providers are actually tuition centres.

The other question I have is: what is the capacity in total of these 300 centres, in terms of the number of student care places?

The 300 community-based student care centres that I mentioned are registered with MSF as student care fee assistance administrators. In other words, they have been certified by MSF to be running these services. In terms of the details, if Mr Yee

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wishes, he can file a separate question on the centres which are registered under MSF.