Debated in Parliament on 10 Mar 2014.
Resumption of Debate on Question [7 March 2014],
"That the total sum to be allocated for Head K of the Estimates be reduced by $100". – [Mr Lim Biow Chuan].
Question again proposed.
Madam, in providing religious instructions distinctive to its religious beliefs, a mission aided school must comply with the Education (Grant-in-Aid) Regulations. This helps ensure that our schools remain the vital common space for our Singaporean children regardless of race, language or religion.
Like many Members who attended schools with religious affiliations, I can attest to the benefits of such a multiracial, multi-religious school environment even though I am a Catholic and was educated in a Catholic primary school. My son now attends a Catholic primary school.
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As such, I view with concern the subtle but growing lack of understanding and appreciation for the distinctive character and mission of our schools with religious affiliations. I have observed and have received feedback of how some parents with children in mission aided schools, who are not affiliated to the faith of those schools, complain about the morning prayers as part of the morning assembly, Mass in school, religious symbols in schools, faith-based Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs), and of priority being given in primary school admission to children who are affiliated with churches or other religious organisations. Some go so far as to pressure schools to reduce or even do away with these distinctive practices and traditions.
Ironically, these parents argue that as Singapore is a secular state that is not based on any particular religion, mission aided schools detract from this core principle. These efforts to "secularise" mission schools are misguided and troubling for their creeping intolerance.
I hope that the Ministry and the mission aided schools will do more to engage parents and students about the mission of mission aided schools so that there is understanding, respect and support to uphold and enhance the distinctive character and ethos of these schools.
We will all be poorer if our system of secular education in our national schools persists in eroding the distinctive character and religious ethos of our mission aided schools.
Madam, Religious Knowledge (RK) was introduced into our education system back at our secondary school level in 1982. During that period, RK was a compulsory subject and it could be used as an "O" level subject to apply for entry into a junior college, pre-university centre, or polytechnic. RK subsequently became an optional subject and was totally removed from the secondary school syllabus in the early 1990s.
I would like to call upon the Ministry to consider and explore the possibility of re-introducing RK as one of the Humanities subjects alongside existing choices, such as Literature, Geography and History. Schools should also be given the discretion to offer RK as a subject, and in view of limited resources and interests among students.
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I would also like to call upon the Ministry to encourage our universities to introduce Theology alongside existing programmes on religion inter-faith studies and philosophy. This will not only offer a reasoned, responsible and constructive basis for discussion, but it will also add diversity to our university landscape. In top universities, such as Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford, Theology has often provided an added dimension to a student's academic life.
The re-introduction of RK in our secondary schools and the introduction of Theology in our universities will provide students with more possibilities and offer them an avenue where they can deepen their understanding of not only their own faith, but the faith of their neighbours and friends. At the very least, RK provides a firm foundation to foster an environment for constructive discussion on religious and inter-faith issues in Singapore and beyond.
Madam, a school is an important institution where knowledge is acquired and values developed. I was the last batch of students who were offered RK during my secondary school education. I have personally benefitted from the RK programme. I hope the Ministry can consider and further explore the suggestion I have put forth.
Madam, bullying in schools can occur in any setting and takes many forms. It occurs in schools without exception, regardless of socio-economic or cultural background. The various types are verbal, physical, racial and cyberbullying. Although, in Singapore, verbal bullying is most common, the two emerging forms of bullying are cyberbullying and racial motivated bullying.
Bullying has clear, deleterious impacts on both the victim and the bully. Numerous studies on the subject have noted a positive correlation between being bullied and an increased risk of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and even suicide. Bullying also has a negative effect on the bully, including increased estrangement from the rest of the school and/or society and contributes to an increased risk of the bully being engaged in criminal activity and youth delinquency and higher tendency to enter into crime as adults.
May I ask MOE if there is any study done to ascertain the prevalence of school bullying in our schools. MOE treats bullying as a "disciplinary problem" which is far too general in my view. Can MOE adopt a tough no-tolerance policy on bullying in our schools like the UK and Australia? MOE should implement
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model bullying policies to be adopted by all schools and defining the prohibited actions or behaviours so that there is consistency in all schools.
Could MOE adequately train all teachers to better detect and to deal with bullying?
Could MOE raise the awareness on the prevention of school bullying among students, parents and schools. There should be the provision of self-report questionnaires, instructions and activities in the school curriculum to enable bullying to be addressed amongst students, formation of discussion groups involving parents, empowerment through Student Anti-Bullying Committees and Peer Support programmes. Students should be encouraged and made easy for them to report on themselves or their friends being bullied.
In view of the increased cases of cyberbullying, what are the measures in place to deal with this area with greater urgency?
Can there also be better counselling services and pastoral care for all students involved or afflicted by school bullying?
Madam, while MOE has the COMPASS Council to strengthen home-school collaborations, many parents and schools are still not actively engaging each other. Some barriers to parent involvement include: lack of time by families and school staff; prior negative contacts between teachers and parents usually when students misbehave; and lack of strategy and skills in engaging parents effectively
In a culture where teaching of daily life skills and character-building are either missing or outsourced to schools, equipping families in this area is a potentially meaningful way of engaging them. At a recent meeting with educators, I heard that there are students who have not peeled an orange or cooked a meal for themselves before.
One way that MOE can facilitate win-win school-parent engagement is the provision of easily accessible online or face to face modular learning workshops so schools can engage families to coach their children in topics, such as social etiquette and other daily living skills applicable to the home, community and global settings.
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Senior Parliamentary Secretary.
Mdm Chairperson, the Minister had spoken about our commitment to bring out the best in every child, in every domain of learning, in every school, at every stage of the learning journey, whatever the starting point, to create a better future, together. This can only be achieved through a close partnership of school, home and the community. I will speak about how good efforts enabled by this partnership have benefited our children.
Parents, being the first caregivers and teachers, are no doubt a key influence on the holistic development of their child. To thrive in the 21st century, there has been an increased premium placed on softer competencies like attitudes, values and life skills. These softer competencies complement a rigorous academic curriculum to help our students navigate an increasingly ambiguous and fast-changing workplace. Hence, we are heartened to see parents sharing this vision and working hand-in-hand with schools in providing a conducive environment to develop the whole child.
Co-chairing the National Advisory Council known as COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools (COMPASS), I am pleased to share the many platforms that MOE has put in place to engage a wide spectrum of parents deeply and meaningfully. An example is the COMPASS Forum Theatre, an interactive drama to spark off discussions on parenting styles through the role-playing of different parent-child scenarios. I was at the first session and was pleased to see parents, young people as well as educationists in the audience participating actively and co-creating parenting solutions. We found that such an activity helps parents reflect on their role and parenting style.
Mdm Helen Su participated in one of these sessions with her son. She shared that the event had improved her relationship with her son as both of them walked away with a better understanding of parents and teenagers' mindsets. She also hoped to attend more of such sessions to guide her through the growing process of her teenage son.
Parent Support Groups (PSGs) also contribute very directly towards our children's well-roundedness. The PSG members of Jurong Primary School believe strongly that learning is a wonderful adventure which parents can be a part of. For example, they work closely with the school in conducting homeskills programmes to teach students basic cooking and sewing. As Ms Denise Phua pointed out, having these living skills help our children develop independence
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and become well-adjusted adults in future.
Mdm Ivy Seah, who chaired the PSG in Cedar Primary School, believes that the ethnic diversity of the PSG can greatly enrich the National Education curriculum and cultural programmes. Comprising parents of ethnicities and nationalities, Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans, the PSG exposes the students to a range of Asian cultures, through displays and sharing during cultural celebrations, as well as experiential learning programmes. These are parents from India, Nepal, China and some other countries, who come together with Singaporean parents to help the children learn better and to understand diversity and accept it.
In Woodgrove Secondary School, the PSG members are actively involved in Values-in-Action (VIA) projects as the parents believe that they should lead by example in contributing to the society. During a visit to the Sunshine Welfare Action Mission (SWAMI), the PSG members performed and played games with the elderly. Students witnessed their parents' care for the elderly, while learning to be more empathetic towards the old folks.
PSGs could also play a role in family bonding. Mr Edwin Cheng, who used to be a part of the PSG of Ai Tong School, feels that the regular family-wide participation in PSG activities has helped his children adjust well to school and develop a sense of belonging.
It is encouraging to see more parents coming forth to play a more active role in their child's education. We recognise the value of PSGs and support their meaningful activities. In 2012, we introduced the PSG Fund, which is a seed funding of $2,500 per school to enhance partnership efforts with parents.
For example, this fund had supported East Spring Secondary School in achieving a common understanding between parents and the school. As a member of the PSG ExCo, Mrs Esther Sim was involved in strategising with the school on how best to use the PSG Fund. The result was a PSG Handbook to help parents understand the school mission and what they can do as partners in education.
This fund also enabled the PSG of Park View Primary School to organise workshops to promote networking and sharing of knowledge amongst parents. So, it is not just a fund that parents use to benefit the children, but they also use this fund to enrich themselves through sharing. One such workshop was on "Celebrating a Pro-Family Mindset", during which parents had the opportunities
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to reflect, and devise strategies on living and celebrating a family life that they envision. Participants provided feedback that they have acquired new skills and had become more confident in coaching their child.
To support partnership with parents on an on-going basis, MOE will provide each school with an annual top up of their PSG Fund of up to $2,500 per year. I hope that this will sustain the momentum of the good programmes we have today, while enabling more parents to play a more active role in their child's education.
I am also pleased to share that COMPASS is working closely with a group of PSG leaders from various schools to organise the first ever PSG Conference, which will be held in April this year at the MOE's ExCEL Fest 2014. The conference will allow PSGs to share their best practices with one another and grow together.
Dr Lily Neo spoke about bullying. MOE acknowledges her concerns and takes a zero-tolerance approach towards school bullying.
The new Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum empowers students to help themselves and support their peers who are bullied. Teachers are also equipped with customised resources to identify and manage bullying cases. Through our curriculum and programmes, schools impart values to foster appropriate behaviour and inculcate socio-emotional competencies to help students respond in challenging situations. Families, particularly parents, are our best partners in reinforcing these values and competencies at home.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap spoke about re-introducing Religious Knowledge into our curriculum. Our curriculum today provides our students with a broad-based exposure of major religions in Singapore. Such exposure helps to promote respect between people of different religious backgrounds. Many schools also leverage special occasions, such as Deepavali, Good Friday and Racial Harmony Day, to help students appreciate our multicultural and multi-religious Singapore. Hence, with the wide range of efforts, it is not necessary to re-introduce Religious Knowledge as a separate subject.
I agree with Assoc Prof Eugene Tan on the need to preserve the character and integrity of mission and faith-affiliated schools. These schools have a well-established heritage that gives them a distinctive identity and contributes to
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diversity in our educational landscape. Parents who choose to enrol their children in these schools generally appreciate the unique heritage and ethos of the school.
In order to preserve the common space where our young can develop a shared Singaporean identity, MOE has set guidelines to ensure that schools conduct religious activities sensitively. Within these guidelines, we want these schools to maintain these traditions and school culture, which is part-and-parcel of embracing our multi-religious Singapore.
Parents are important role models for our students to understand, respect and celebrate such diversity. This is an important part of holistic education and goes towards fostering social cohesion in Singapore.
Authentic learning opportunities go beyond the four walls of the classroom. The Minister has spoken about how the Applied Learning Programme connects academic knowledge and skills with the real world, so that students can appreciate the relevance and value of what they are learning.
Outram Secondary School has been making use of various teaching approaches to sustain students' interest in the learning of Malay Language and culture. For instance, the school conducted Silat lessons, which allowed students to learn more about the traditional Malay martial arts and the different Malay words used in the martial arts. In collaboration with the community, the students put up Silat performances for the senior citizens at the Beo Crescent neighbourhood. A Malay Language teacher, Miss Elyani Mohamed, commented that through these activities, students were able to gain appreciation of the Malay culture and traditions as well as learn important values to develop their character.
Ahmad Ibrahim Primary School partnered the Singapore Chinese Physicians Association and co-created an innovative pedagogy for the learning and teaching of Mother Tongue Languages using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The upper primary school students who took Chinese Language visited and interviewed Chinese physicians in the neighbourhood on their work and the different types of TCM treatments. The students then carried out further research by referring to the TCM reference books found in the school's TCM room, which was designed like a Chinese physician's clinic and served as an authentic learning centre for their students. They also had the opportunity to tour the Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution, which was the school's community partner to see the Chinese physicians in action. This partnership
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provided the platform for students to hone their Chinese Language through experiential, self-directed learning.
Partnership with the community also presents endless opportunities to enhance our Character and Citizenship Education, which involves opening the mind and touching the heart of our children. Beyond the theoretical transmission of values, we must also help our children translate these values into action and make a difference to Singapore and the lives of fellow Singaporeans.
Marsiling Community Centre launched Homework Cafe in the beginning of this year to foster to provide a conducive environment for children from disadvantaged families to do their homework. To date, the programme has benefitted 20 children from families receiving public financial assistance. Since the start of the programme, students from Republic Polytechnic (RP) have regularly volunteered to coach and help these children with their homework. Seeing these children eager to come for Homework Cafe, Aqeem, one of the RP students who has been volunteering in the last six weeks, derives a deep sense of satisfaction from having played a part in levelling up his community.
Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) in 2013 drove home the importance of listening closely to our stakeholders' needs and aspirations, and factoring these into our policymaking and implementation. MOE will continue to reach out and engage parents, our community partners and stakeholders extensively and meaningfully. Consolidating our experience from OSC, we are developing deeper engagement capacity among the headquarter and school personnel.
I thank Ms Denise Phua for sharing her concerns and interest regarding parent engagement at the school level. This is indeed, as I said earlier in my speech, a very important part of the school and community work. I hope that the earlier part of my speech has demonstrated that our schools are forthcoming in engaging parents. This can be seen from the fact that more than 95% of our schools have formalised PSGs. Besides that, our schools have always been communicating regularly with parents through various channels, including emails, meet-the-parents sessions, newsletters and school websites.
I agree with Ms Phua that effective parent engagement requires schools to have a deep understanding of parents' concerns and this will form the foundation of mutual trust between parents and schools. In order to support and sustain schools in their stakeholder engagement efforts, MOE has produced and disseminated a Facilitation Primer, a publication which is a toolkit
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on effective facilitation. It is our aim that through better engagement with stakeholders, MOE will be better able to co-create the future education system with our stakeholders.
Madam, summing up, parents and the community have a huge role to play, whether in inculcating the right values in our children, teaching our children to embrace diversity in our multicultural, multi-religious Singapore, or helping our children learn beyond the classroom. To bring out the best in every child, we are committed to continue harnessing the energy of parents and the community, to live out MOE's Partnership motto "Building on Trust, Partnership as One".
Madam, let me conclude my speech in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Government aims to help bring out the best in every child, in every domain of learning, in every school and at every stage of schooling, whatever their social background, to build a better future for every pupil and the country. Parents and society have a very important role in assisting in instilling good values that we want to develop in our children for the sake of our children's future. MOE will continue assisting schools to build their capabilities, work together with parents and the community to ensure that our students can learn in a larger environment beyond their classrooms.
We have a bit of time for clarification. Mr Lim Biow Chuan.
Thank you, Mdm Chair. Just some supplementary questions for MOE. First, for the Minister: PSLE is a stressful time for many parents because of the desire for the children to do well in the examination. Can the Minister share a bit what else we can do to get parents to buy into the concept that education is not just about academic grades, but the overall development of the child, so that the schools can bring out the best in the children and so the Minister can emphasise his "Every School is a Good School" concept to more parents? I am just wondering whether the PSG can do more to help communicate the message to the parents.
The second supplementary question is, while I applaud the setting up of 40 more student care centres, how would this impact MOE's plans to have more primary schools go single sessions?
The third question is on the teaching of values. The feedback I had was that many Singaporeans are concerned that there is not enough emphasis on the
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teaching of loyalty to the nation. They need to be patriotic; they need to care for the community. Can these areas be emphasised during the teaching of Character and Citizenship Education (CCE)?
And, finally, for the Senior Minister of State Ms Indranee Rajah. The Senior Minister of State spoke about ASPIRE Committee considering the use of professional certification to recognise skills-based education. I wonder whether the Senior Minister of State is able to elaborate a little bit more about what kind of professional or technical certification is MOE considering and how do we ensure that such certification is recognised and valued by the industries?
Mdm Chair, I thank Mr Lim Biow Chuan for his supplementary questions. On his first question of what more we can do to convince and persuade parents about what is the best way to bring out the best in their children, I have spoken at length on the range of measures that we are doing in our schools.
Starting from the way that we assess students more holistically – in our primary schools now, our schools provide a holistic assessment report for our students. I have seen some of these reports, and I have to say that our teachers are putting a lot of effort to explain the various dimensions. We have also started on our Values-In-Action programme as part of CCE. In the Values-In-Action programmes, we seek to involve parents in the process and some schools have done it very creatively. They have, for instance, required students to work with their parents – for example, doing household chores at home. I think parents can see the value of those types of assignments. Parents then take part together with children in their learning journey and, in the process, they get to understand even better what our schools are seeking to do and to see for themselves how this benefits their children.
But I agree with Mr Lim that this is going to be a long journey. It is not something that we can do overnight. That is where deeper engagement with parents is very important – and I found that to be valuable during Our Singapore Conversation, where we had many discussions with parents. Understanding what their concerns are, what their aspirations are and how we can work together with them.
As Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Hawazi Daipi has just mentioned, we will do more through our Parent Support Groups. That is why we have decided to provide a top up to all the Parent Support Groups Fund so that they can help to spread the message of how each and every family can bring out the best in
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their children, not just in the academic realm, but holistically. So, we will do more with the Parent Support Groups. We will also be conducting more parent conferences. Our schools have been provided with tool kits; we see our educators, our school leaders, engaging parents in a more intense way.
Mr Lim asked if the provision of Student Care Centres will affect the implementation of single session in schools. I would like to assure Mr Lim that no, it would not. In fact, we are on track in both areas. I do hope that the Student Care Centres will provide parents with greater assurance that their children are being looked after.
The third question that Mr Lim raised is about the teaching of values and, in particular, loyalty to the nation. Indeed, this is something that we have to pay a lot of attention to because as recent events have shown, we live in an unpredictable world. As a small nation, we will always have to be vigilant if we want to maintain our independence and sovereignty. So, how do we teach this concept of loyalty to our students? It is, in fact, through a lot of Values-In-Action. You will notice that our programme is called "Character and Citizenship Education", and it is important for our students, starting from very young, to understand what it means to be citizens of Singapore, what it means to be loyal to the country, and how they can contribute to our broader community or broader society, and not just to have success on their own. And in our Character and Citizenship Education programmes, a great deal of the activities are infused into daily actions because there is no better way of saying that I love my country than to do something for the country – and to do something whether it is starting from the school, or the neighbourhood and the broader community.
It is a whole range of different activities, many of them initiated by the students themselves, so that they can experience it, they can feel it and not just talk about it in abstract. Again, this is an ongoing continual effort. We must do our best to help every child realise the importance of contributing to our nation and, in that way, we can continue to build a cohesive, successful nation. And this is particularly important as we celebrate our 50th year of Independence.
I will ask Senior Minister of State Ms Indranee Rajah to respond to the other issues.
Mdm Chairperson, with respect to the Member's clarification on elaboration of
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what kind of professional and technical certifications we are looking at, the Committee is still at the early stages of the work. But what I can say is we should first look at what is the ultimate goal.
The ultimate goal is that students want to progress; those who are in working life also want to progress. That is one part of it. And when you look at the employer's perspective, what does the employer want? The employer wants skills, deep skills. And also for employees who have worked for two or three years, they want them to get additional skills and broader skills. So, that is the starting point.
It is really to look at what the industry needs and what kind of certification the industry recognises, and what kind of certification in which the industry feels that there are gaps at the moment and is not being provided. It is also important to recognise that each industry is different. So, what we are really looking at or exploring is how to work with industries to understand from them what they need in order to give their employees the chance to progress upwards, what kind of certifications would be relevant for that, and how we can assist in this process.
Mdm Chair, I am pleased with the additional measures by MOE to assist students with disabilities, especially with the setting up of the Disability Support Offices. However, it is important that MOE could also help ensure that the quality of the SPED schools is consistent across the different schools, so that we can have a desirable outcome. And the desirable outcome to most of us with keen interest in this disability sector is for as many of the SPED school graduates to proceed to ITE or to find a meaningful job after graduation.
So, to this end, could MOE clarify how MOE is helping SPED graduates to transit from school to work; and, secondly, more importantly, how MOE could help SPED schools implement a curriculum that will help to shape the SPED graduates to be more work-ready?
Mdm Chair, one more question on the DSA. I am glad that MOE will review the DSA scheme, partly to incorporate the assessment of students' other exceptional personal qualities, such as resilience, ability to overcome adversity, despite coming from a family of challenging background and so on. May I ask if it means that every student applying for DSA will be assessed on whether they have these exceptional qualities?
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Madam, I will take the Member's questions on raising the quality of SPED schools as well as progression of our students in the SPED schools on to post-secondary institutions.
Madam, indeed, it is the shared goal of MOE as well as our stakeholders and partners in the VWO sector to see as many of our students in our SPED schools progress on to either post-secondary institutions or be able to secure a job when they leave the school system. And to this end, we have been working together with our SPED schools as well as VWOs to strengthen our vocational training for those students who are able to undertake such education.
This is an ongoing piece of work and I would like to thank our Members for being amongst the stakeholders who have given us many valuable suggestions in this regard, and MOE will be pleased to share more when more of our initiatives have been firmed up. Over the years, we have been putting in more investments into our SPED schools in order to help prepare our students for work, in order to equip them with more skills.
Madam, may I also respond to Mr Ang Wei Neng's question on DSA. Mr Ang Wei Neng has asked whether we expect every DSA student to now be assessed on exceptional personal qualities. No, we do not expect exceptional personal qualities in all DSA students. The exceptional personal qualities, which I spoke about last Friday, are about character, resilience, drive and leadership.
So, there will be no change to the criteria for selecting DSA students for the vast majority. They will continue to be assessed based on their achievements and potential in a specific academic or non-academic area. As part of the selection, schools today already look out for good conduct and basic personal qualities and this will remain. But we do not expect everyone to demonstrate exceptional personal qualities.
What we have done now is to provide for an additional avenue for a very small number of students who have displayed exceptional personal qualities to be given a second look by the secondary schools. So, our primary schools will identify a small handful of students with these qualities and help these students with these exceptional personal qualities to apply for DSA to a secondary school which has programmes that can allow these students to develop their area of potential and talent to the fullest. These students will be considered alongside other DSA candidates who have not been so identified by their
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primary schools.
We do not expect large numbers because we do not typically expect such exceptional personal qualities at the young age of 12, but for a few who have had to face adversity in life early on and yet have thrived, we want to make sure that they are supported; that they continue to grow and thrive, especially in their areas of potential and talent, so that we can bring out the best in these children. As I have said earlier, this is part of our goal to help all our students to make full use of the variegated school landscape to bring out the best in every child and to keep our secondary schools open to a wide range of talents with different strengths.
I have two clarifications to seek from the Ministry, maybe from the Senior Minister of State. The Minister had said earlier that they would be tightening up the tuition grant administration process, in terms of tracking the bond obligation fulfilment by the international students. Can I know when will the whole process be completed?
The second clarification is whether they would also be looking into the terms and conditions of the application process, specifically on the surety part, and whether they would still want to allow sureties to be residing overseas where it is very hard for us to hold them to their words, in that sense.
I thank Mr Png Eng Huat for his question. Let me reiterate the reply that I gave to Parliament several weeks back where I made it clear that eight in 10 students started serving their bond promptly, were granted approval by MOE to defer the obligation, and of the remaining ones who are not, some have gone for studies and omitted to get approval; some are seeking employment and so on. We have in place a tracking and enforcement system, and for those who are in deliberate default, enforcement action will be taken. The reason why it takes time to track all these cases is that these are fairly intensive efforts. Each case has to be reviewed carefully. For instance, if someone said that he has a medical condition and is unable to fulfil his obligation, all that has to be checked properly and carefully.
Mr Png asked how long it would take. Well, the review is going on and we are continuing to improve the system. He had also asked about the terms and conditions, especially about sureties. Let us see this in perspective because for international students, the requirement to allow for sureties who do not necessarily live in Singapore is a practical consideration. If you require all to be Singaporeans, it means that it would be difficult, if not almost impossible, to
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get all of them. But I want to assure the Member that we take this enforcement seriously, wherever the sureties are. I understand Mr Png Eng Huat's interest in looking at the administrative details, and I do think that these details matter and, indeed, officials are working very hard on these areas.
But let me emphasise a few points. The first is that the admission of international students in our Institutes of Higher Learning is not at the expense of local students. Let me raise three strategic points about why we are having international students in the first place. First, we need to prepare our students for the future. Our starting point is a simple one – we want to provide high-quality, forward-looking education for Singaporean students, so that we can prepare them better for the future and, in turn, they can help to build a better future for all. And our students have to be prepared for a different world – the globalised, information-age world where soft skills matter; soft skills of cultural literacy, global awareness and the ability to work with people from all over the world, from all walks of life. Indeed, Ms Janice Koh, Ms Tan Su Shan and Mrs Lina Chiam all spoke about this earlier on. In fact, Mrs Chiam suggested that, perhaps, we should send 20% of our students overseas and then, in turn, we have 20% of overseas students come to study in our institutions to build that global awareness and cross-cultural literacy. I am happy to say that we are doing both. In fact, more than 50% of our students have, in their undergraduate studies, some form of overseas exposure. Having a fraction of international students in our system serves exactly the purpose that Mrs Chiam had spoken about, and which many of our Members here have spoken about.
The second strategic point which I like to raise is that having international students in our universities and polytechnics serves the interests of all Singaporeans because it augments our manpower, it allows us to attract investments. And when we attract good investments, we create good jobs for all Singaporeans. As you are fully aware, we have a small market, and our companies have to regionalise and globalise. And when they are able to tap on students who have lived a part of their lives in Singapore, they get to understand the Singapore way of doing things and they get to understand how they can work in Singapore companies and promote the Singapore brand.
The third strategic point is this: that having a network of people who have been in Singapore ultimately benefits Singapore and Singaporeans. It may not be obvious today but it becomes obvious years down the road.
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Let me just cite my personal experience. As a civil servant, when I was in MTI and when I was in the Monetary Authority of Singapore, I travelled around the region negotiating trade agreements, working on projects in collaboration with the governments in the region, with businesses in the region. Quite a number of these leaders had at some point studied in Singapore, and there is such a reservoir of goodwill, friendship and trust that allows us to do things together.
Now, it may not appear obvious at first glance, but I urge Mr Png Eng Huat to consider carefully what that means for Singapore. Why do we want to create that goodwill, if not for the fact that this is going to benefit all Singaporeans in the long run? It may not benefit us today; it will benefit us years down the road. In fact, let me say that we are not the only country seeking to do this.
I recently met a group of our Singaporean students who had been given scholarships to study in 北大, 清华 and 复旦, fully paid for by the Chinese government. When they came back, I spoke to them and they understand what is happening in China better. I was recently in Germany and several of their universities asked me to help them promote their scholarships to study in Germany. They said, "First, in the immediate term, we know that Asian students make very good engineers and we need more engineers; and, second, we know that they will help to build that network which, over time, will promote deeper relationships between Germany, in particular, and Europe, in general, and Asia". Countries around our region are doing the same.
Let us not just focus on the technicalities; let us focus on the big picture of what we are doing. But I want to emphasise one very important point, which is that whatever we do, it must be that this serves the interest of Singaporeans and of Singapore, whether immediately or in the long run. And that is how we are guided in our policy.
Mdm Chair, a question for the Minister. There is a recent shift, Minister, towards multiple peaks of excellence, diverse pathways and holistic education, which is a good thing. However, despite extensive and best efforts, we still have parents, teachers and even school leaders who may still be focussed on academic achievement. They may still be sceptical about every school being a good school. I mentioned this in my speech. So, what else can be done to ensure that we get support from these major stakeholders?
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Madam, I thank Dr Intan for her question. That is an issue that we are most concerned with. We are a very big Ministry. We have over 33,000 educators and, therefore, when we want to achieve the good outcomes that we mentioned, it is not just for the Minister to articulate a particular vision or direction, but really for every one of our educators to buy into that vision.
I am happy to say that what I have outlined last Friday in Parliament and, in fact, what we have been doing in the last few years and even before that, builds on and consolidates what we have done. It is a result of very intensive discussions with our educators, internally as well as with the broader Singapore community, particularly parents as well as different stakeholders. This very extensive exercise was done during Our Singapore Conversation and will continue; we will continue to do that.
I would like to say this – our educators find that the direction and the messages about what we are seeking to do are things which resonate with them very deeply. We are very fortunate to have, over the years, built up a very strong core of very caring educators who believe deeply about bringing out the best in every child. I have met so many of them. They were particularly delighted when I said that a good school cannot be just measured by academic grades alone. In fact, the attributes of a good school are about caring for students, about helping them to acquire the fundamentals, creating the positive school experience for them, for everyone, and when we care for and provide the opportunities for every student, they will blossom.
What we have been doing and what we will continue to do is to engage all our educators very intensely over the coming months to make sure that as far as implementation is concerned, our schools, our educators, take the lead. We encourage the schools to come up with innovative ways of bringing this about. I am very happy to say that, for instance, in a few weeks' time, we will be having our MOE ExCEL Fest which is a major innovation platform for each and every one of our schools to highlight what they have done, what pilots they have tried and those that have worked well.
We are also working with our Academy of Singapore Teachers as well as the various teachers' academies and they will be doing a lot more to engage our educators. And I am confident that while change will take time, it will happen.
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I thank the Minister for the reply, but I just want to clarify that I am not against foreign students. I just want to make sure that at the end of the day, these international students stick to their end of the bargain and that is all; that they are supposed to work here, they do not game the system and then just walk off.
I thank Mr Png Eng Huat for making a very clear statement that he is not against having international students in our system. Indeed, we too want to make sure that they fulfil their part of it as well.
Madam, I am very delighted with all the good news that have been announced by MOE – really feel that they are going in the right direction like ASPIRE, school-based after-school services, dyslexia support and especially the Disability Support Offices (DSOs) announced by Minister of State Ms Sim Ann – I believe it is a game changer when done well.
Just to seek clarification regarding the DSO and the SEN Fund. The announcement was primarily for physical and sensory disabilities, I think that is every important, but I am quite sure that the largest group who have learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, ADHD, autism, must have been considered. I just need a clarification from the Minister of State that these groups also have access to the DSO and the SEN Fund services.
The second clarification: I am also very glad that Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Hawazi Daipi and MOE fully support the school-parent engagement. But because many parents are working and not available to attend quite a number of these face-to-face engagements, I wanted to seek the Senior Parliamentary Secretary's confirmation that if more investments can be made at the HQ level to develop online learning, bite-size packages, so that things like values, National Education and the daily living skills support could be developed to complement and supplement what is currently happening for parent engagement efforts.
Minister of State.
Madam, let me take the hon Member's question on the Disability Support Offices. Madam, the intention is for the Disability Support Offices that will be set up in our ITEs, in polytechnics, in our autonomous universities and arts institutions, to look into all forms of special education needs.
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Now, allow me to recap the purpose of the SEN Fund. It will be set up for our polytechnic and ITE students and it will serve the students with physical or sensory- related impairment. The autonomous universities and arts institutions are also committed to ensuring that the same support is provided. For students who have other forms of disabilities aside from physical and sensory-related impairment, they are currently being supported directly by the institutions that they are in and we foresee this situation to continue. However, with the set-up of the Disability Support Offices, and as such offices and their work unfold, we do expect to gain a more comprehensive grasp of the special education needs amongst our students in our Institutes of Higher Learning, and to gain a better understanding of how to help and how to support them.
MOE will continue to work with all Institutes of Higher Learning to ensure that all students with special education needs – regardless of what forms they take – will be adequately supported.
We only have five minutes before the guillotine time for this Ministry, so please keep your clarifications and replies short.
I have two questions. The Minister has announced 40 new Student Care Centres (SSCs). While more students will benefit, more than one third of schools will still not have SSCs by 2016. I would like to know what constraints MOE face in moving faster. Is it funding, lack of operators or lack of physical infrastructure?
And just a little more about the tuition grant – MOE has said in two previous Parliament replies that (a) no one has deferred more than six years and (b) deferment duration is on a case-by-case basis. Those who go for Masters and PhD will need longer deferment. I would like to know – it is common for postgraduate programmes leading to PhD to take more than six years – so, why is it that no one has ever deferred more than six years?
I would also like to know whether MOE has to write off amounts if a student becomes uncontactable and it becomes difficult to enforce liquidated damages from abroad. If so, how many cases have there been? Also, with our highly ranked universities, are they able to attract international students with lower tuition grant quantum and with fewer scholarships?
Mdm Chair, may I address Ms Denise Phua's question first?
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Yes, please.
I thank Ms Denise Phua for her suggestion. Yes, what we want to do is to engage parents to get them more involved in the education of their children by working together with other parents and with the schools. Well, we will explore other avenues if it is necessary and useful for us to have an online learning portal for parents to learn about the school, to learn about how to manage certain problems with regard to issues they may face in their relationship with their children. We can explore that.
One of the best ways is probably harnessing the parents' collective experience and wisdom, and probably through the PSG network.
Minister?
Madam, may I address the question raised by Mr Yee Jenn Jong. First, he asked about the Student Care Centres. In fact, it is because of our very close consultation with parents that we are aware of the demand for these Student Care Centres. The Member asked about the numbers and what is holding us back. First, the fact that there is this demand shows that many parents have confidence in the Student Care Centres in our schools. So, in 2011, I asked our officials to work on increasing the number of Student Care Centres, and I am happy to say that in 2010, we have 40. By December 2013, we have 80. We doubled the number from 2010, from 40 to 80, but, most significantly, in terms of enrolment numbers, we raised it from 2,500 in 2010 to 7,500.
In other words, the Student Care Centres have doubled in numbers but tripled in enrolment. What it means is that many more of them are expanding intakes even within the same centre. What we want to do is to do it systemically, to ensure that it is of high quality because when the students are entrusted to the Student Care Centre, we have to ensure that high quality is maintained. Members are aware of the manpower crunch in many sectors, but whatever it is, we have got to make sure that we do it systemically and ensure quality. The Minister for MSF will also speak on Student Care Centres outside of the schools.
The Member also asked about the deferment of cases. Indeed, as the Member had mentioned, the deferment is on a case-by-case basis. So, why is it that some might be longer? Let me clarify that in my written reply to the Member's question on deferment for not more than six years, it was with reference to particular years that the Member mentioned in his question. On
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whether liquidated damages will be pursued, the answer is, yes, we will pursue liquidated damages if a student is in breach.
I know there are many Members who want to take the floor but, unfortunately, we have reached the guillotine time. The Minister for Communications and Information is waiting to reply to Members as well. So, I am afraid I have to move on. Mr Lim Biow Chuan, would you like to withdraw your amendment?
Mdm Chairman, on behalf of the GPC for Education and the many Members of this House who have spoken so passionately about education policies, allow me to thank the Minister, Senior Minister of State, Minister of State and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for sharing MOE's plans to bring out the best in every child and for their replies and clarifications. I also wish to take the opportunity to thank the Permanent Secretary and MOE staff for their diligence and hard work during this COS debate. Madam, I seek leave to withdraw my amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
The sum of $10,598,000,000 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.
The sum of $888,000,000 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.
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