Debated in Parliament on 7 Mar 2014.
Madam, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head K of the Estimates be reduced by $100".
Two months ago, I organised a dialogue to hear the views of my residents on the topic of education. During the dialogue, many parents spoke passionately on the issues which they are concerned about – stress in school due to Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and the need to have good teachers in our schools.
One participant stood up – a Secondary 3 student from Chung Cheng High. He spoke about how his teachers taught them fundamental skills to prepare them for the future; how they constantly stressed to them the importance of having the right values in life, and how success in life should never be measured by academic grades alone. He and his classmates were taught never to allow the three-digit PSLE score to determine their future. Whatever their PSLE results, it is for them to make the best out of their Secondary education in school. Many other students at the dialogue nodded their heads in agreement.
I was happy to hear the mature response from the students. Their teachers have taught them well on the importance of education and values, and making the best of their Secondary school education. This reflects well on the hard work and effort of the many dedicated teachers within MOE's workforce. To the many school teachers who have taught your students well, and given them a strong foundation, thank you for molding our future generation. I urge MOE to continue investing in the training of good teachers, including pre-school teachers who teach our younger children.
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MOE must find more ways to retain good teachers who have that passion for teaching, and who can inspire our students. I suggest that MOE sets up a taskforce to ascertain the reasons why good teachers leave MOE to become tuition teachers, and then find ways to keep such good teachers.
Next, PSLE. My younger child took her PSLE last year. Like many parents, my wife and I were totally stressed out. We did whatever we could to equip her for PSLE. Although PSLE is supposed to be an assessment exam, which helps us to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our child, nevertheless, PSLE is perceived as a high-stake exam. Hence, many parents are anxious about the pending review of the PSLE.
Would there be a less stressful way to assess the students, so that they do not have to chase every mark. One feedback was that we should not push our children to take such a major exam at a young age. Would MOE consider pushing PSLE to be taken at a later age when the student is more mature to handle major exams?
Next, to ease the perception that a child's future is determined by the PSLE, I support MOE's policy to ensure that every school is a good school, and that every school is given adequate resources and allowed to develop its own niche and strength. I also support MOE's efforts to ensure that different pathways to higher education opportunities will remain open for all. Every school must continually monitor its weakest students to ensure that they receive sufficient help to improve and learn skills, which should be useful for the future.
For students who are late developers, they must be assured that they still have the opportunity to further their studies at a later stage in life. However, no matter how we promote the concept of good schools, the Government, as the country's largest employer, must also recognise that good academic grades alone are not the only way to measure a person's ability. Otherwise, all parents will only want their children to go to schools which help the students score good grades and get to University, because that is the best way to get employed.
In a recent article in TODAY, Mr Thomas Friedman, quoting Google's hiring policy said, "Google had determined that Grade Point Averages (GPAs) are worthless as a criterion for hiring and test scores are worthless. We found that they do not predict anything. Hence, the proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time." I would not go as far as to say that educational qualifications are not relevant but I do urge MOE or
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Government agencies to review its hiring policies to consider not just a person's academic grades but other factors as well. Google says they look at general cognitive ability, emergent leadership, intellectual humility and ownership. The Government should consider likewise, so that people with different abilities are also recognised.
Although we aim to have more students in University, it is really not possible for all our students to obtain a degree. It is critical that MOE works with MOM to ensure that all our students from ITE, Polytechnic and Universities are properly prepared to meet the future needs of the various industries. The skills which our students learn in our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) must be practical and relevant to the industries. As Google said, "Beware. Your degree is not a proxy for your ability to do any job".
May I ask the Minister to give us an update about the work and recommendation of the ASPIRE Committee. How can we help our ITE and Polytechnic students improve upon their cognitive and emotional skills? We should prepare the students for the future. Can we encourage more entrepreneurs amongst our future generation? Can we use more technology to teach the students to deal with the new digital world? And, very importantly, how do we ensure that our students view that they have a stake in making Singapore a better place? What else can we do to prepare our students to be future-ready when these jobs have not even been invented yet?
In many parts of the world, the youth unemployment figure is very high, even after graduation. What is Singapore doing to ensure that our youths will not end up in similar situation as that in other countries?
Finally, I welcome the Budget announcement that there will be more bursaries at the IHLs for lower and middle income families. For these families, every dollar has to be stretched. I am glad that MOT had earlier this year, in response to many Members' feedback, agreed to a reduction in public transport fares for Polytechnic students. How else can MOE help —
Mr Lim, your time is up.
— help students facing financial hardship cope with their studies?
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Madam, I want to share with the House my views on how we can achieve the goal of "Every School a Good School".
First, elitism in education. In recent years, the Ministry has put in a lot of effort to promote every school as a good school, and it is the right thing for our education system. For example, MOE has stopped announcing the PSLE top scorers in an effort to curb elitism perception of schools.
I was, however, disturbed to hear about the resourcing plans by the Ministry some weeks ago where The Straits Times reported funding cuts for some top Secondary schools. Unfortunately, the report seemed to indicate that, all along, the Ministry gives preferential treatment to what we called "elite schools" and this is particularly damaging to the Ministry's earlier slogan that "Every School a Good School". It generated and reinforced the impression that elite schools are better than others, in that elite schools received more funding, support and recognition from MOE itself; and, second, elite schools had more funding, better facilities, better teacher-to-student ratio, better study environment and the students are likely to do better and succeed in life.
One would have thought that we should have put in more resources and funding to non-elite schools to help level up the playing field but the impression we now have is that we are giving more to the schools that do not really need more, and not giving enough to the schools that actually need the additional support and resources, even though I note that students in our elite independent schools pay much higher fees than other schools. Even so, one can expect even more stress in our education system where parents will try to get their kids into a perceived elite school.
Another issue which I believe creates the impression of elitism is the existence of the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) in certain schools. I believe that the GEP has run its useful course and we should do away with this programme where we gather students who pass an entrance exam together in just a few schools. Instead, we could have some part of the curriculum of the GEP as an enrichment programme to support the core syllabus, for some students in all schools where for most part of their school time, the students spend time with students of different abilities doing the standard subjects and those capable of a higher level of challenge be allowed to do a special enrichment programme.
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Also, the "Gifted" labelling does great disservice to students who may not be academically talented but who are also talented in sports, music, the arts or in other areas. Are we saying that they are not gifted? The Gifted Programme is obsolete and the enrichment model, which builds on students' respective strengths around a core group of subjects, is more suitable in my opinion. This is better than segregation, which brings me to my next topic, which is streaming and segregation in schools.
Since I entered Parliament, I have been speaking against streaming in schools. I was glad, therefore, that after many years of debates in this House, like many other Members too, some years ago, MOE eliminated the official streaming of EM1 to EM3 after the Primary 4 level.
Most of us would agree that education is a great leveller and helps improve the mobility within society. Unfortunately, in Singapore, the segregation, which is still existent in our education system, may be counter-productive in this regard. In Primary schools, students are already being streamed based on their academic standing since Primary 2. As different students bloom at different pace, I think this may not be the right thing to do as it unnecessarily stigmatises the students at such a young age.
Moreover, with such high level of competition built into the education system at such an early age, parents and students both face the pressure to outdo one another, and it is very common to see some parents spend large sums of money on private tuition for their children. This may turn into a vicious circle, as the parents from the lower-income families may struggle to keep up with such spending, so they could lose out in this race. In this way, education will fail in its objective to be a social leveller and may, in fact, help widen the gap.
We already have Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools and recently MOE announced the setting up of Normal (Technical) schools. I do not think that such segregation would be useful as it will not allow us to achieve our goals of fully integrating our society at an age we should be doing so.
One possible solution is to start the clustering of schools. I believe that students can benefit greatly by interacting with pupils of different abilities and backgrounds. In future, in my opinion, diversity will be more useful than uniformity. I would like to suggest, therefore, that we work on clustering of schools where two or three schools within the same locality be clustered into one mega school system, where we can have a mixture of our top schools with
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what people label as neighbourhood schools as one cluster.
We could ensure that there is a rotation of teachers and principals within the cluster, so that all schools benefit from high calibre staff instead of the current practice of only a few well regarded or so-called elite schools being given the best resources to make them better.
For such clusters, CCAs can be jointly conducted and interaction during these non-academic sessions will help us create better understanding among children of different academic abilities and backgrounds. Implemented in this way, we will see greater support of teachers and staff among one another which I think will benefit all, including the so-called elite schools.
The schools can also be vertically integrated, putting Primary and Secondary schools together, as this will help them pool together resources. It will also remove more competition from the system as you will encourage students to continue in the high schools out of convenience rather than to choose schools based on grades alone. This, I feel, ties with the aim of removing some of the pressure from our PSLE system.
If we can adopt some of these measures that I have proposed, I am confident that most of our schools will be regarded as good schools in line with MOE's objective of Every School a Good School.
Madam, when the Minister for Education first talked about Every School being a Good School in 2012, many conversations and discussions ensued among students, educators, parents, critics and just about everybody else who is interested in our education system. "Every School a Good School" sounds catchy but few actually believe that it is true or that it can be true.
To many of us, Every School a Good School seems to mean that every school that we see or know of should be like Raffles Institution or Hwa Chong Institution, or like Rosyth School or Ai Tong School. To me, many of us probably equate a good school to being a popular school or being a school that has many students who do well academically in high-stakes examinations.
If we go back to what Minister Heng said about Every School a Good School, we see that a "good" school, first of all, nurtures engaged learners; enables
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teachers to be caring educators; and, third, fosters supportive partnership with parents and the community. The Minister also mentioned that "each of our schools is good in its own way". There was and still is no mention of a "good" school being one that has many students with stellar academic results or being in the likes of schools that have long been perceived to be "good".
Hence, I am deeply concerned when many of us – parents and our own school teachers and school leaders themselves – still have the wrong perception of what a Good School is.
As I see it, well-known schools such as Raffles Institution (RI) or Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) have had a strong tradition of excellence in the academics and are likely to continue in this area. This is an area of excellence that we have traditionally associated with being intelligent, being successful in one's education, and which is a determinant to being successful later on in life.
However, this is only one peak of excellence that we have in our education system for our children to pursue their interest or ability in. I see other peaks of excellence forming. Schools, such as South View Primary School and Edgefield Primary School, come under the peak of excellence in Dance and Performing Arts. Schools, such as New Town Secondary School and Unity Secondary School, come under the peak of excellence in Uniformed Groups. We must continue to recognise these different peaks of excellence and accord the same amount of respect and admiration as we have traditionally done for academic excellence.
As Howard Gardner expounds, human intelligences are varied in different frames of what our interests and propensities fall into, and involve both skills as well as potential. Human intelligences extend beyond linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities, and sometimes spatial-visual ability, that traditional high-stakes examinations usually assess, and which we have traditionally valued to equate to one's level of intellectual capacity and potential to succeed in future. This is a very narrow perception of intelligence, ability, or potential future success, and I am certainly glad that MOE has made significant strides in making changes to the education system to recognise a broader spectrum of intelligences and abilities in different domains.
In the same vein, once again, I would like to call for the Ministry to abolish academic streams at the Secondary school level, just as has been done at the
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Primary school level. The abolition of academic streams will help reinforce the Ministry's commitment to recognising and providing for diverse abilities in different domains, and that we develop at different rates.
For the Ministry, the challenge remains in changing the mindsets of parents, school teachers and school leaders, and the general public to embrace this paradigm shift. Employers have a significant role to play in this as well, and I hope that the Ministry will work closely with prospective employers to recognise abilities beyond just linguistic, logical-mathematical and visual-spatial for a start. I would also urge the Ministry to continue explaining and describing the intents and goals of Every School a Good School, as well as explicitly detailing what has been done to make this a reality – not just with parents, but teachers and school leaders as well – because misperceptions and cynicism still exist with regard to Every School a Good School.
But more importantly, parents, teachers and our society in general must be convinced that being a "good" child or "good" student or "good" employee is not about producing expected results consistently or not ever making mistakes. There is nothing wrong with making mistakes or having failed, as long as one learns from it and is able to "fail forward", or do better the next time around. It is the very fear of failure that prevents us from trying out new ways of doing things, daring to take the less trodden, non-linear or longer path, or being able to seize opportunities wherever they may be – locally or globally.
A number of young people I have met and spoken to, seem to have very similar perceptions that having a first degree will increase their chances in finding a "good" job, and having a post-graduate degree will increase their chances of being promoted thereafter. There is a need to help our young realise and see for themselves that the well-trodden, linear path is not all there is to doing well or being successful; many roads lead to the same destination, and there is nothing wrong in taking a longer route, making U-turns, or taking a longer time in getting there.
On a related note, I applaud the formation of the Applied Study in Polytechnic and ITE Review or ASPIRE Committee. This is a testament of the Ministry's commitment to ensure many different pathways to success and in helping our students realise their potential in different domains. Working closely with prospective employers is important in ensuring that our polytechnic and ITE students are given opportunities, through internships or apprenticeships, to gain work experience in different industries and develop work-ready skills even before graduating from their respective post-Secondary programmes. It is my hope that through this close collaboration between our
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post-Secondary institutions and prospective employers, we can sufficiently show that a uUiversity degree is not necessarily a pre-requisite to getting a good job, doing well in one's career or being successful in life.
Being deemed as "good" or having attained success ought to be seen from a broader perspective beyond academic excellence and consistent expected results. May I end with a quote from Winston Churchill: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."
Recently, it was reported that funding for top independent schools in Singapore was cut. Sources from alumni estimated that cuts on the Integrated Programme portion were between 4% and 8%. Additionally, according to MOE, Government development expenditure on education decreased by 82%, from $353 million to $83 million.
We agree that the immediate action is to narrow the gap between neighbourhood and elite schools. However, this should not be achieved by reducing the competitiveness of our top schools. We should, instead, spend more on neighbourhood schools so that the overall education standards will increase.
On the same note, Cedar Girls' Secondary School had their running track taken away. Would it be possible for the Government to construct shared sports facility in different regions that cater only for students? We note that some schools may have their track and other land intensive facilities taken away as we prioritise the use of land in Singapore. Investing in shared sports facility will increase the overall standards of all-rounded education.
Mdm Chair, I accept that MOE has a difficult task in Secondary school admissions. So long as some schools have more applicants than places, some would be disappointed and may question the fairness and logic of the system. The only solution is to have a fair, logical and transparent system which you can defend and also fulfil the objectives of a good education. On that, I have two points.
First, I wish to ask whether students should be admitted under DSA on their academic achievements. Because if a student is strong academically, should he
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not just rely on his PSLE results like everyone else? I would like to also ask how DSA is, in fact, assessed. While the Minister has previously stated that the students accepted into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is not in itself sufficient criteria for admission by a DSA, statistics show that GEP students make up 15% of the students admitted to Secondary schools via DSA.
This gives rise to two issues. First, GEP students enjoy an advantage because they have two bites of the cherry, when it comes to admission to a Secondary school; and second, because of that advantage, it increases the impetus and, therefore, pressure on students to get into GEP at Primary 4. This gives rise to a more fundamental question on the relevance of the GEP. It is founded on the assumption that some children are naturally more clever or talented and that we can through testing identify who they are when they are nine years old. But there are growing numbers of studies which challenge this talent meet and show success is more a function of good instruction, purposeful practice and hard work. Indeed, there are also studies that telling children that they are naturally intelligent may harm them rather than help their development. Could the Minister please explain the rationale for having the system?
Second, I ask the Minister to offer different pathways to Secondary schools. The PSLE and DSA may be important to decide who goes to more popular Secondary schools, but do we need to put everyone through that system? Much time is now spent preparing the child for the PSLE from Primary 4 to Primary 6. I ask whether that time could be better time used giving them real teaching, real learning.
I accept that academic rigour is important and I am not suggesting doing away with testing or giving anyone an easy ride. But if we have a through-train or affiliated school programme which is prepared to take students based on their regular work and assessments, that will be a more accurate reflection of their abilities and would do away with the need for an all or nothing high-stakes examination. Time will be freed to do more meaningful work. For those who want to compete for places in more popular schools, they can sit for the PSLE but that would be their choice.
Mdm Chair, many parents and teachers I have spoken to are getting anxious about the broader review of the education system that the Minister mentioned with regard to the review of the PSLE in
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October last year.
The Minister had said then that the Ministry would engage parents in the coming months to obtain feedback. Few details about the broader review or the feedback have been made known to the public, and sudden changes to the PSLE system announced each year in the past two years just before the release of the results, though minor, have worsened public anxiety.
For the benefit of the public, would the Minister kindly share with us the scope of the broader review of the education system he had in mind and the specific areas that would be looked at?
The education system is the bedrock of our economy. It is not only a subject of great anxieties for Singaporean families but also a subject central to the national interest. As such, I propose that the Ministry consider adopting a phased consultative process involving the release of topical papers leading to the tabling of a White Paper for parliamentary debate, much like the one we had for population policy. Though there is no guarantee that the outcome would satisfy the public, at least the process will make the review transparent and clear to relieve parents and teachers of their anxiety of uncertainty.
Madam, the Workers' Party welcomes a broader review of the education system. However, the review should proceed cautiously. I am concerned with two things related to the broadening of the assessment and admission systems.
One, the use of Direct School Admission tests and other discretionary admission instruments should not disadvantage students from neighbourhood schools from entering top and special niche Secondary schools.
Two, it is important that the broadening of the assessment system does not result in the dilution of bilingual education. Acquisition of good language skills, both English and Mother Tongue, is crucial to our humanistic and cultural life. It should be treated as equally important as academic and technical skills. In particular, Mother Tongue language education should not be sacrificed.
Madam, the Direct School Admissions or DSA scheme has allowed students to be admitted to the schools of their choice
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without using their PSLE scores. The DSA scheme helps to ease the pressure off the high-stakes examination but it also has its unintended consequences.
For example, many students who are good at sports but are academically weaker are not choosing to go to the Sports School. Instead, some of them opt to attend schools that offer integrated programmes which are supposed to cater to the academically stronger students, designed to prepare them for a University education without going through the GCE "O" level examinations.
MOE had recently revealed that of the students admitted to top Secondary schools through DSA sports in 2013, 10% had PSLE scores that were 30 or more points below the school's PSLE cut-off point. The question is whether the top schools that admit the academically weaker students through DSA sports have been taking good care of these weaker students.
Has MOE done an empirical study to track the progress of these academically weaker sport students? How many of them have fallen through the cracks and failed to pass their GCE "A" level examinations eventually?
On a separate note, MOE has earlier revealed its intention to review or expand the DSA scheme with a special emphasis on admitting students from challenging family background.
Madam, I would like to repeat the call for a pilot for a cluster of 10-year through-train schools from Primary to Secondary school levels.
The PSLE is an important Primary school end-goal for most students, their parents and the schools. PSLE results determine whether a student joins the normal or express streams in Secondary 1. Doing well also gives more options of one's choice of Secondary schools. It is, hence, common for some schools and tutors to use much of the Primary 5 and 6 years to prepare their students well in their academics for this high-stakes examination.
Contrary to the perception of some, removing a high-stakes examination like the PSLE, will not lead to falling academic standards. Designed and executed well, the time taken to hot-house students for the PSLE can instead be used to master their academics even better. There is more time to develop
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special talents in either the academics, IT or music, arts or sports which the busy PSLE students have little time for. Problems relating to Secondary school choice and admission would also become irrelevant by removing the PSLE.
My proposal for the pilot programme goes beyond the mere removal of the PSLE. The vision for this pilot incorporates other key features, such as:
(a) No streaming, and offering of a mix of core and elective subjects at either the foundation, standard or advanced or gifted level according to one's abilities and strengths;
(b) A good mix of both formative and summative assessments to locate one's mastery level;
(c) Incorporation of what is already excellent in the current system such as character building, citizenship and socio-emotional development;
(d) Service to others as part of daily school life;
(e) Daily living skills training at four levels – self, family, community and nation;
(f) Learning support for those who have learning disabilities; and
(g) Stronger support for those who are disadvantaged.
This is at least the sixth time I have given inputs to MOE regarding the issues of the high-stakes PSLE and/or through-train schools in this House; not counting the other discussions I have had with MOE leaders. I seek an update from Minister on his thoughts on what the next steps might be.
Madam, I have spoken about piloting Primary through Secondary integrated schools every year since I have entered this House. I am glad that other hon Members like Mr Laurence Lien and Ms Denise Phua have also been making similar calls.
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Singaporean children must study in public schools unless they are granted permission by MOE to be schooled at home or in international schools. They have to go through the PSLE which is, in effect, a sorting test to determine academic streams and Secondary school admission. Even with the ongoing review, the PSLE will still be used to sort students. The stress of an early high-stakes test will still be there.
Madam, I understand that some parents will want a competitive system and for their children to enter into what they believe as the best schools. There are, however, parents like myself who would rather have our children go through Primary and Secondary education in the same school without PSLE.
The brands of schools have not mattered to me. Such an integrated system is available in many countries, including those that have fared well in international education benchmarks. The choice is not available here. I urge MOE to study the feasibility to pilot such integrated schools. We can leave out the top schools in the pilot so that this will not become a back door. We have years of holistic assessment experience and capable educators. We can use these strengths to make such schools as good schools, too.
It is said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. In Singapore, we have our own history from which we can draw many lessons, but I am not certain that we are taking full advantage of this.
Just recently, Singapore reacted strongly to the Indonesian naming of its warship KRI Usman Harun after the two marines responsible for the MacDonald House bombing during Konfrontasi. The bombing was part of a spate of attacks that also included hits on schools and other civil institutions. For those living through that period, it was a vivid and painful lesson on how vulnerable Singapore was; a small state bullied by a belligerent bigger neighbour and on how vulnerable it remains.
But the powerful lessons of this period in history and the relevance of it seem to have escaped much of our young, which have led to some wondering what the big fuss was about. Their lack of historical perspective worries me.
Madam, we should ensure that our young people learn the lessons of our history well. History not only helps us to understand our past, but also the
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values and principles that shape our nation. It plays an essential role in developing a sense of national identity among our young. While the history syllabus covers our history, we need to ensure that the teaching is effective in conveying the deeper significance of events and their relevance.
I appreciate that it is not easy to teach and engage our students on our historical past and our teachers have a challenging task. And the amount of time dedicated to the subjects is also limited. Inevitably, teachers are likely to choose topics that are well-resourced with materials appropriate to their pupils' ages. We need to resource them better.
More focus should also be given to the professional development of history teachers, especially those who teach in Secondary 1 and Secondary 2. These two years in Secondary school where history is compulsory are crucial, as after that history becomes an option and many students abandon it. Not many Secondary schools teach "O" level History. In fact, only about 20% offer it.
Besides teaching our history well, we should also equip our young with the resilience that they will need to persevere in the fact of future challenges. Unlike the parents and grandparents, many of them have not had to struggle for what they need. We should expose our students to challenge and let them learn how to handle obstacles and to learn from mistakes, without shaming failure.
Schools should tie up with the community on projects outside their comfort zone and also work with parents whose instincts are to protect their kids from setbacks. But as Singapore's history teaches us, a setback may not be the end of the world. It can spur us to greater heights and make us stronger.
I would like to ask the Minister for his assessment of the effectiveness of our Character and Citizenship Education and its efforts to develop in our young a sense of national identity and values.
Mdm Chair, I am encouraged by the Ministry's efforts to place more focus on the softer, but critical elements of education in our schools, while easing the emphasis on exam results. Much more than grades, critical thinking, creativity and Emotional Quotient (EQ) skills are what will advantage our young in an increasingly competitive world.
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Yet, assessing outcomes when imparting non-examinable skills is tricky. Common benchmarks, such as standardised tests – PISA, TIMSS, and PIRLS – may not fully capture how well an education system teaches "soft skills". In fact, a number of international studies suggest that systems with high test-scores tend to produce "high-testing, low ability" individuals, who are less adept at being creative and entrepreneurial. This is a concern in societies, such as Japan, South Korea and China, which also perform well on standardised tests like PISA. I think it is something Singapore should also be concerned about.
The OSC survey last year indicated that Singaporeans place lower value on creativity, risk-taking and entrepreneurship. This is evidenced by feedback from employers who say that young Singaporeans tend to lack the confidence, the drive, and the willingness to try new things – qualities necessary for leadership in today's context.
Madam, my question to the Ministry is, given the weight of test scores to education benchmarking in Singapore, how will the Ministry mitigate the risk of producing too many "high testing, low ability" individuals through our school system? And does the Ministry intend to broaden benchmarking practices to reflect the changes in the system as we seek more holistic educational outcomes?
The 21st century competencies put forth by MOE are attributes not easily attainable or even teachable through textbooks or testing. They present different teaching challenges compared to preparing students for exams. Imparting these abilities require mentorship, closer guidance, greater student engagement and a more personal connection with students that may call for more intimate classroom settings.
Madam, on this, I have two questions: how does the Ministry intend to impart "soft skills" systematically and effectively to our students, and how does it plan to assess its effectiveness, if at all?
Madam, MOE should consider improving the quality of job scope for teachers in Singapore. We understand that in some schools, teachers report to work before 7.00 am and leave school only after 4.00 pm, after covering co-curricular activities. I understand the need for teachers to set
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a good example by attending flag-raising, but I question the need for all teachers to be present during every ceremony.
It is public knowledge that school has to start earlier than work time – 8.30 am to 9.30 am generally – in order to facilitate parents fetching their children to school. However, it is not entirely logical to regulate teacher's presence the same way as students. As part of resource deployment, I propose a solution to employ retired teachers and professional workers or use the help of volunteers to participate in flag-rising ceremonies in order to keep the school operations running between 6.30 am and 8.30 am. Some teachers can be stationed to be in charge of the ceremony on a rotational basis.
Additionally, we may need to increase the salary of teachers to compensate for the lack of relevant skill sets for the private sector, aside from the education sector. Unlike an oil and gas project manager who can easily be employed in another manufacturing company, a middle-aged English teacher may find it difficult to move into most of the private sector industries in Singapore. Given that we require teachers to commit their best years to our students, there is also a corresponding need for us to ensure teachers can be remunerated competitively.
Mdm Chair, I applaud the various measures announced in the Budget to give students from all backgrounds a chance to advance through education. My speech today, however, will evolve around the ethos and philosophy by which we think about our education system.
Social mobility can be achieved but not just by the right educational qualifications. Why? The world has evolved to such a point today – you do not need to have a degree to succeed in life because digitalisation and Internet has become the great social leveller. Anyone with a laptop or a smartphone has access to education and information outside of physical schools and universities. Some top universities are even conducting free courses online. Hence, to take Singapore to the next stage of evolution, we may need to rethink and refresh our principles behind what constitutes a successful education system.
Recent changes announced by MOE are all moves in the right direction, reducing the emphasis on exam grades, changing the admission to top schools
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and so on are all progressive. But the point to make here is, you can still get a great education without going to school. So, then, how do we keep our schools relevant in creating this social mobility?
Mdm Chair, I believe more needs to be done at schools to make our students more curious, more collaborative, more flexible and, sometimes, more humble. With so much education available, schools need to play a part to encourage students to take ownership of their own education to be intellectually curious and open to lifelong learning. Education will, therefore, be less about memorising facts and figures, all of which are available on the Internet, and more about becoming a person of right values, the desire to be a value to society. Here are four suggestions.
First, encourage a positive mindset and learning the importance of failure. Stanford University psychologist Carol Dwight believes in the value of creating the right mindset. I quote: "Fixed mindset is belief that success and failure are genetically programmed into us, so the child believes himself to be unintelligent who will never be able to succeed academically. Worse still, teachers with a fixed mindset will transfer their own pre-conception onto the students. In contrast, a growth mindset allows us to believe our intelligence is a fluid entity and we have great controls over our abilities. Those with a growth mindset use failure as a temporary stop on the way to success."
Bloomberg, too, had an article which said, "go ahead, let your kids fail". Why? Kids who have failed before understand how to learn from failures or their mistakes.
The new economy we live in needs more people with intellectual humility. Google, for example, does not care about hiring top college graduates because they have never experienced failure. Instead, the Head of People Operations looks for the ability to step back and embrace other people's ideas when they are better. This is intellectual humility. Without humility, you are unable to learn. Failure has its benefits – psychologists have talked about it – how it can engender compassion, humility, wisdom and courage.
Second, creativity and flexibility. More can be done at schools to encourage students to try new things. This can either come at CCA level or within the curriculum. Currently, many of our schools place too much emphasis on winning school medals and less on allowing all students to try out new sports, new musical instruments or new creative activities, even if you are not good at it. Inculcating this desire to continue to learn or experiment will come in handy
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in life and at work as innovation and digitalisation will continue to change the way we live, work and we need to evolve to stay ahead.
Third, encouraging collaboration and connectivity at the Primary school level. In my Budget speech in 2012, I introduced to the House the collage method of teaching which is piloted at Nanyang Primary School. It is about collaborative teaching and the learning and intertwining of different disciplines to demonstrate to children the relevance of what they are learning. The key here is to encourage innovative thinking and collaborative skills at a young age. More importantly, the kids develop a love for lifelong learning. At the University level, we could consider how to accelerate our Universities' transformation from teaching to research universities. Basically, we should consider how our Universities can help us grow our own state of research-intensive SMEs and outsource research labs.
The Government may have to play a more active role in getting more cooperation between Universities and businesses or Statutory Boards. For example, NUS has a formalised programme for students to work with firms on consulting projects. Other tertiary institutes can encourage more of such apprenticeships or collaborations.
Last, but not least, values, a higher purpose. Imbuing in our students a desire and the ability to create value for others, or a greater good, will help us achieve a higher purpose in our society. For example, during Total Defence Day, we used to teach our students the importance of frugality, prudence and discipline, when we had food rationing in schools. Why not continue this practice and do more work to encourage students to take more proactive steps in playing their part to make our society a better place.
That way, we can perhaps turn a generation of potential online complainers into a generation of active crusaders for the common good.
Mdm Chair, while I am a big admirer of the Singapore education system, I think it is time for us to take stock, rethink some of our old principles and turn our schools into greater enablers for a better Singapore.
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Mdm Chair, the tuition fees at the Institutes of Higher Learning or IHLs, such as Polytechnic and University, have increased significantly over the past few years. For example, the tuition fee for business undergraduate degree course at NUS has increased by 37% between 2008 and 2013, much higher than the inflation rate and the increase in the median household income over the same period time. Thus, the increased in the bursary quantum for students studying at IHLs will be a relief to many households.
However, I hope that the increased in quantum is not a one-off exercise. Otherwise, its effect would be negated or eroded with successive rounds of tuition fee hikes and inflation over the years. Perhaps, MOE could consider having a formula to peg the bursary quantum to a percentage of the latest student's tuition fee.
At the same time, I also applaud the initiative to ease the per capita household income criteria for bursaries which will benefit two-thirds of all Singaporean households. Nonetheless, I hope that the lower income families will receive higher bursary quantum to help their children move up the social ladder.
Last but not least, I hope that MOE could find ways to impress upon the bursary recipients that the bursary is not an entitlement. I find it very disturbing when some tertiary bursary recipients refused to attend the cheque presentation ceremony or expect the cheque to be mailed to them directly. Perhaps, MOE could consider requesting the bursary recipients to perform some form of community service during their vacation as a way of giving back to the society.
Mdm Chair, every year, international students receive about $12,000 to $75,000 each to study at our Institutions of Higher Learning. In total, the Government dispenses about $210 million in tuition grants per year to these students. This is not a small sum of money and the only requirement the Government asks of these international students is to work for a Singapore-based company for a period of three years upon their
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graduation with no other strings attached.
The grant application is so easy that even the sureties required to complete the application need not be Singaporeans nor reside here. And to fulfil the three-year employment obligation agreement, the foreign student can work full-time or part-time, locally or overseas, give tuition at a tuition centre, and even be self-employed.
If the same student wishes to pursue a full-time undergraduate programme at our local tertiary institutions, he can defer his existing grant obligation, get another subsidy with another three-year grant obligation and serve both his obligations concurrently upon getting the undergraduate degree.
After pulling out all the stops for these foreign students, how many of them took advantage of our generosity and left Singapore without serving a single day of their three-year grant obligation?
MOE is currently unable to provide a definitive answer to this question. Even among the current group of international students who had not started work upon graduation and/or who had not sought permission to do so, MOE did not want to reveal the number of defaulters in this group. I understand the Ministry is tightening its tracking and enforcement efforts for bond fulfilment and I hope we will have a clear answer one day.
Madam, the Tuition Grant Scheme was started in 1980. The Government would have dished out billions of dollars in tuition grants to tens of thousands of international students to date. It is hard to fathom that we do not know for sure how many foreign students took the liberty to ignore their obligations the past 34 years.
We even roll out the red carpet for these foreign students that if they become citizens, they will be released from serving the grant obligation. For that, I would like to ask the Minister, how many of them had done so to date?
MOE cannot tighten the tracking and enforcement efforts without first tightening the terms and conditions of the Tuition Grant Scheme. Allowing an international student to have sureties living overseas is as good as having no sureties at all because we all know how hard it is to enforce our contracts beyond the shores of Singapore.
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Our Government dishes out all kinds of grants to Singaporeans. In public housing, there are strict rules governing the disbursement of grants and some grants must be paid back with interest with no exception. It is certainly not acceptable for some international students to work our system, take our grants and make a mockery out of our generosity.
Mdm Chair, we have a globally-ranked education system that we are right to be proud of – our students are ranked at or near the top in Mathematics and Science, the high level of their bilingual ability is the envy of others, and the extremely low level of school drop-outs is testament to the many pathways, from ITE to Polytechnic to University, that are in place to suit each student's ability. But the question always is: can we do better? There are, after all, several aspects of the education system that are perhaps less admirable.
There is the widespread tuition culture, which cannot all be blamed on "kiasu" Singapore parents. There is the relatively lower priority accorded to the arts and literature, and to sports, which mean our students are less outstanding internationally where the subjects are not Mathematics or Science. There is the perception of our students being stronger on content but less innovative. And it is correct that despite our legions of students who obtained straight "A"s at schools and First Class Honours at University, we have yet to produce any Nobel Prize winners and are not readily known for ground-breaking inventions. Finally, there is the heavy pressure that our children come under in our results-oriented system, which even extends to the parents taking leave to coach their 12-year-old children for the PSLE.
MOE has been taking steps to address these concerns, including doing away with the banding of schools and the move away from T-scores in the PSLE examination as the means of admission into Secondary schools. These are steps in the right direction.
Allow me to raise one further vision for consideration. Borrowing on the concept of private schools in England and the United States, I would like to see our students move to a whole-day single session of schooling from morning till the late afternoon. These extended hours of school are not intended to impose greater pressure on our students, but rather the opposite, and to ensure a healthier, well-rounded approach in education.
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The morning hours could be devoted to lessons not unlike our current system, but with a longer duration for subject periods to allow for more time for teachers to teach concepts rather than over-stressing content. Class sizes should be smaller than what they are now – in private schools in the West, they are typically not more than 20 – and it is to be hoped that we will move gradually closer to that number from the current high 30s to 40s. The lower teacher-to-student ratio will permit the teacher to devote greater attention to each student, which will reduce the need for tuition to make up for what the students are missing in class.
After lunch provided in school, which would also ensure that all students had proper nutrition for their growing bodies, the afternoon would be spent on CCA like art, music, various societies and sport. This could then be followed by a study period for students to do their revision and work assignments. The time spent on sport and the arts would make sure that children have the physical exercise and the outdoor and out of class activities that help in building healthy minds. Setting aside time for revision and work assignments in school, which can be supplemented by extra teaching on Saturday mornings for weaker or gifted students, is meant to do away with the need for extra tuition and to allow a child to spend sufficient, but not over-extensive, time on his school work.
At the end of the school day, the children would go home to the parents and this, in turn, reduces the need for expensive student care facilities. The children would then be free to spend the evenings with their families and enjoy their growing-up years, as they ought to do. There is, of course, the risk that some parents would make their children go for tuition at night or over the entire weekend. There is no way to legislate against such behaviour, but I believe many parents would rather not subject their children to many hours of tuition, if they believe that their children are getting sufficient instruction and that other parents would not behave the same way.
All these would require considerable expenditure, as beyond the physical infrastructure, MOE would have to hire many more teachers. In terms of physical infrastructure, our schools have been moving to a single session system anyway. As for teachers, we have a growing percentage of each cohort of Singaporeans entering University each year. The current projection is for that to go up 40% for each cohort. What better way to provide employment for the increasing number of graduates entering the job market than to employ them as teachers.
Perhaps, school fees may have to increase by a small amount, but many households pay much more than that for private tuition and enrichment classes
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for their children anyway. Poorer households should, of course, be spared the need to pay more and should continue to receive subsidies to allow their children to avail themselves fully of these educational opportunities.
At the end of the day, we all recognise that there are aspects of our education system we can improve, in particular the heavy pressure on our students, the over-reliance on tuition and the lower priority accorded to more creative pursuits, the arts and sport. We should be prepared to make the necessary investment to create a more conducive environment to allow our students to obtain a truly holistic education. This will better equip our children with the life-skills to meet tomorrow's challenges, and, ultimately, reap the best sort of dividends in our people.
With the Government's plan to add 20,000 more childcare places by 2017, the need for sufficient qualified preschool teachers becomes more acute. Setting up the physical space for a childcare centre or preschool is the easy part. Getting well-trained preschool teachers with the desired set of skills, passion, personality and commitment to the profession is a different matter altogether.
Currently, preschool teacher training is done at several of our local Polytechnics and various other private education institutions. While bodies, such as the Pre-school Qualification Accreditation Committee and the Workforce Development Agency, are there to regulate preschool teacher training, the processes in place are often merely procedural and do not quite look into the training curriculum, contents and pedagogy in depth to ensure consistent standards and quality.
There have been claims that while the private education institutions which run such preschool teacher training have structures that satisfy Government requirements, the standard and quality of preschool teacher training differs from one private education institution to another. This results in rather distinct differences among our preschool teachers in terms of knowledge, skills and classroom experience, depending on which institution they did their preschool teacher training in.
I have spoken about this before and I hope the Ministry will take the lead in centralising the training of preschool teachers, just as our school teachers are all centrally trained in the National Institute of Education before they are
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deployed to teach in our mainstream schools, so as to ensure consistent standards and quality.
Hence, regardless of whether our centrally trained preschool teachers end up teaching in an Anchor Operator preschool or otherwise, our preschool children can look forward to being taught by teachers of equivalent training background, knowledge and skill levels, and parents will have greater confidence in placing their children in preschools run by the Anchor Operators or in our MOE Kindergartens, rather than worrying about whether they are able to secure a place in a brand-name preschool or be able to afford the fees at such places.
On a related note, I would also like to request the Ministry to look into setting up more school-based Student Care Centres. I understand there are currently 80 such school-based Student Care Centres. I hope the Ministry can set up more, possibly one in each Primary school.
Such school-based Student Care Centres are important, especially in supporting working parents and young families. Parents would have greater peace of mind when they know that their Primary-school going children have a place to go to after school, and in school, without the need to travel on their own whether back home or to another venue for after-school care. In addition, having responsible adults taking care of their children in a safe environment, which is in the school itself, will also be assuring to working parents.
I hope the Ministry will seriously consider both recommendations – that is, to have centralised training for pre-school teachers and to set up more school-based Student Care Centres soon.
Madam, there are now 80 school-based Student Care Centres (SSCs). While this is an increase since 2011, SSCs are available in just over 40% of Primary schools here.
The number of student care places outside of SSCs will continue to fall as operators find it commercially unattractive to run these due to high rental cost. Operators prefer to offer childcare services which are better funded by the Government or run tuition centres. The demand for student care services has increased, just as it did for childcare services. The best place to run such centres is in the schools, where students need not move out of the school and the
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operators can best coordinate with the teachers to follow up on homework and learning. Schools' facilities in single-session schools are not fully ultilised after school hours. If facilities are offered at token rents to operators, MOE can negotiate for lower fees and higher quality programmes. It will also reduce the need for tuition, benefiting students from disadvantaged families.
MOE did not provide figures for my PQ on the waitlist in SSCs. So, I did a random check on 12 SSCs, both in new and in mature estates. I found that all have no vacancies, with one having over 50 children on the waitlist! The demand is very strong. I would like to see MOE aim for 100% of all Primary schools to have SSCs as soon as possible. Existing operators that run community-based centres will likely be interested to move their operations into schools to avoid high rents and can pass the savings on to parents. I hope MOE and MSF can make this into an urgent priority.
Madam, the support for students with special needs in schools has grown from strength to strength. There is, of course, more to be done, but we must give credit where credit is due.
In special schools, MOE has clearly moved from being a reluctant arms-length funder a decade ago to an active leader and partner. The Special Education Branch has done a commendable job and much has happened:
(a) Improved funding for special school operations;
(b) Financial assistance and even breakfast meals for the needy;
(c) Annual student recognition awards;
(d) Development of curriculum frameworks; and
(e) Strengthening of vocational training.
In mainstream schools, there are now Allied Educators in every Primary school and in half of the Secondary schools to support those with milder special education needs. Recently, school-based support for those with dyslexia – the
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biggest group of students with learning challenges.
And also at institutions of higher learning (IHLs), such as the ITEs, Polytechnics and the Universities, where MOE's presence has historically not been strong, Minister of State Sim Ann and her team had been diligent in identifying the education support gaps in this space through a series of consultations with the undergraduates, the graduates, VWOs and some caregivers. I believe MOE is now considering these rich inputs from the ground.
Upon this good foundation, I would like to give two key recommendations for the next lap.
One, on consolidation in the sector. At the macro level, it is timely for MOE to think about connecting the dots to increase (a) the depth of expertise; and (b) the breadth of impact in the special-needs education landscape.
I recommend that MOE and its key partners conduct a strategic visioning of what the landscape can be in the mid and long term. MOE should start consolidating the sector and consider identifying and nurturing anchor operators in the key disability areas – not-for-profit players who have positive track records in delivering student outcomes and management bench strength. These anchor operators can then be partners in three areas:
(a) Create competence frameworks and solutions to help train and equip stakeholders, such as teachers, specialists, allied educators, caregivers and even shadow teachers, a group which, up to now, is run by private operators and usually accessible to only those who can afford;
(b) Fill the gaps in the current missing areas, such as online or blended lesson packages, to teach core subjects, such as daily living skills, literacy and numeracy; and
(c) Consolidate current specialist and management expertise and scale faster so that a continuum of education support and inclusion models can be applied in all schools, mainstream or special.
With passionate, nimble and competent anchor operators, the special education sector will stand a higher chance to move faster, be more future-ready and more relevant in the 21st century.
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Next, the next "C" – continuum. Madam, I am very heartened by the good developments for special-needs students who are younger. However, for the older ones who are able to move on to further studies at the IHLs, I want to again advocate that a continuum of support be extended to these students. I recommend:
(a) Funding for MOE to set up Disability Support Offices within these IHLs to serve as a first port of call for registration and for help for them; and
(b) Funding for these students to have access to needed services, such as note-taking, sign interpreters, exam accommodations, note-sharing and other forms of learning support.
These special students have crossed many hurdles in their young lives to reach the doors of the IHLs. Let us give them a further leg up to cross that next hurdle.
Finally, I want to thank the Minister, the Minister of State and other members of the MOE team for the hope they have given to the special ones who learn differently in our country and for the good things they have taken to raise them. I seek MOE's serious and favourable consideration of my inputs.
Mdm Chair, with your permission, may I display some slides and photos on the screen?
Yes, please.
Thank you. I thank Mr Lim Biow Chuan and Members for your views and suggestions, and I am happy to hear of Mr Lim's positive experience interacting with our students. I am very much encouraged by your support for education and for many of our policies. Members' comments add to the rich and diverse views we heard at the year-long Singapore Conversation.
Mr Low Thia Khiang mentioned earlier on about a broader review of education. Let me clarify that MOE has been reviewing our policies on an ongoing basis and, in fact, many significant improvements have taken place. Members will see that both our Deputy Prime Ministers are here and they were both Ministers for Education and made many important changes along the way. If not for all those continual changes, our system will not be where it is today with that strength and that world-class system that Deputy Prime Minister
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Tharman mentioned in his Budget Round-up Speech.
Members have raised a wide-ranging set of issues. I may not be able to address every point, but I will address the key themes.
The key goal of my Ministry is 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.
By bringing out the best in every child, we give hope and opportunity to enable every child to succeed, and build a better future for all Singaporeans, together.
[Deputy Speaker (Mr Charles Chong) in the Chair]
Our schools provide the common space and the common experiences for our children to build a sense of cohesion as one people, committed to Singapore and to fellow Singaporeans.
What do we mean by bringing out the best in every child in every domain of learning? Ms Tan Su Shan spoke about preparing for the information age and about the changes that are going on. Both Ms Tan and Mr Lim Biow Chuan also quoted practices in Google, and indeed, the future environment will be more volatile, unpredictable and complex. The terrain our children will have to navigate will be more unfamiliar, with more unknowns. We need to equip our students, not with a map with well-marked paths; rather, we need to equip them with a compass and navigation skills.
A compass so that each child has a sense of direction, a sense of right and wrong; it is about character and values, it is about how well they master themselves, it is about resilience and perseverance, and having the empathy, leadership and social skills to work with others, and the heart to contribute to our community and our nation.
This is the heart of our Character and Citizenship Education.
Navigation skills so that they can analyse situations, apply what they know to solve problems, imagine and invent new possibilities, chart their own paths. This means a strong foundation in core subjects, in numeracy and in literacy, including bilingual literacy. This foundation is necessary for navigating
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changing landscapes, but not sufficient. In recent years, we have emphasised higher order thinking skills, collaborative and cross-cultural skills to thrive in a globalised information age.
I thank Ms Irene Ng for reminding us of the importance of history. I agree with Ms Ng, an appreciation of the past helps us navigate the future. And, indeed, our Character and Citizenship Education, with a strong focus on Values-in-Action and on understanding our past, is progressing well. But we need the support of the community, and I want to thank Ms Ng for her personal effort in helping our students understand our Pledge.
Equipping our students with the inner compass and the navigation skills is a labour of love. To do so, we seek to bring out the best in every child in every domain, not just in the academic subjects, but also in CCA, in arts, in music, in sports and in Values-in-Action projects.
This is holistic education, it is about developing the whole child.
Holistic education involves infusing and integrating the learning in different domains, and the development of values and skills in every part of school life, both in and outside of the classroom.
So, let me share briefly how our teachers are taking an integrative, immersive approach in holistic education. At West Spring Secondary School, students use newspaper articles to discuss social issues. Students gather information, meet with community partners and generate ideas and possible solutions. One group took the initiative to raise funds for a group of elders to have lunch at an eatery which Dignity Kitchen runs and worked with the staff to put up a performance. Dignity Kitchen, by the way, is a hawker training school for the disabled and disadvantaged.
At Kranji Secondary School, Secondary 2 students work on interdisciplinary projects in town planning, supported by the URA. Students have to bring together what they have learnt in Geography, English, and Design and Technology. By working with their peers, they build collaboration and communication skills. They also develop creativity and build analytical and organisational skills as they plan together in teams.
So, you see, we are starting with all these skills very early on. In fact, many of these projects are also done in our Primary schools.
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Our students have done well in international benchmarking tests, such as PISA. Ms Janice Koh pointed out that test scores alone are not enough. I agree. I have looked at the sample questions in PISA and also at our own examination papers. Boy! They do challenge our students – to apply knowledge and skills to solve unfamiliar real-life problems and to use incomplete information, explore indirect relationships, find solutions using unstructured data. So, if Members have an interest to take these tests, I can arrange.
Neither should we fall into the trap of "either-or" thinking – that is, either knowledge or skills. In fact, all over the world, there are fierce debates on this issue and I have been following the debates very closely.
If creativity is about connecting the dots, you need to have solid dots in the first place or you will have nothing to connect. So, a grasp of the basics is necessary. I am not suggesting that we have a perfect system, but I do hope that we take pride in our students' achievements and have the confidence to build on that.
Mr Alvin Yeo mentioned that we are not so good in the creative field – in the arts. I think it is important for us not to over generalise. I am sure that we are all proud of our film-makers, Anthony Chen and Royston Tan, to just name two of them. So, by bringing out the best in every child in every domain, we enable our students to integrate values, knowledge and skills in new and powerful ways, and to go on to navigate changes, solve problems and invent new possibilities.
Let me now touch on how we are bringing out the best in every child in every school. Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Dr Intan and several Members have spoken about every school a good school.
Let me first share a story. I met Dr Leonard Tan last year, as Members can see it on the slide. [A slide was shown to hon Members.] Leonard came from a low-income family and could not afford music lessons as a child. He joined the school band in Princess Elizabeth Primary School and then Bukit Panjang Government High where he learnt to play the tuba. This early exposure piqued his interest in music. In Secondary 3, he saved up $98 for a violin and taught himself how to play the instrument. In less than two years, he obtained a Grade 6 in violin. He went on to pursue his passion in music, first at a Junior College in a music elective programme where he met some inspiring teachers, then because of family circumstances, he had to work, then he went on to LaSalle and NAFA, before getting a scholarship from our National Institute of Education
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to do his PhD in the US. Leonard is now an Asst Prof at the National Institute of Education working to develop the next generation of music teachers.
Now, think about it – if not for the school band, Leonard might not have had the opportunity to learn to read music scores or to learn the tuba, and then to discover his strength and his passion. And Leonard is now contributing back to education and to our society.
By bringing out the best in every child, our society progresses. Leonard's story illustrates that good schools can be places of discovery and nurture for our students, and can bring out the best in them – good Primary schools, good Secondary schools and beyond.
Like Dr Intan, I have heard some cynics say: how can every school be a good school when it does not produce the same number of students who have perfect scores compared to the other one?
To put things into perspective, let me share with you my discussions with parents.
I have met many parents who shared with me how different each of their children is – in interests, in temperaments, in aptitudes. One is motivated; another requires prodding. One thrives under intense competition; another blossoms in a nurturing environment. One is theoretical; another is hands-on. One is outgoing; another is introverted. I am sure Members of this House can resonate with that. Same parents! Same upbringing! Completely different temperaments, interests and aptitudes. Different outcomes.
But every parent wants to be a good parent, to bring out the best in each of their children. But this does not mean achieving identical outcomes. Rather, nurturing parents seek to help each of their children discover his or her strengths and interests, help each of them build on these, to succeed and to lead a happy, meaningful life.
If a good parent with just two or three children cannot turn out identical outcomes, nor is judged whether he or she is a good parent on the basis that each of their children turn out the same way, or turn out with equal academic scores, is it right to judge a school with over 1,000 students, as "good" or "not good", on the basis of whether it can produce identical academic grades as
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another school?
Every school a good school does not mean Every School the Same School, but it does mean Every School Good in its Own Way, seeking to bring out the Best in Every Child.
In our 2012 Committee of Supply debate on MOE, I set out what Every School a Good School means. And this Every School a Good School has energised our schools, and helped change parents' perception. I am deeply committed to this, so, therefore, let me repeat what I said then.
First and foremost, a good school is one that cares for its students. Therefore, it is one that studies and knows the needs, interests and strengths of its students and motivates them to learn and grow. A good school ensures all students acquire strong fundamentals of literacy and numeracy and develops them holistically, in character, knowledge and critical competencies. A good school creates a positive school experience for each student, making him a confident and lifelong learner. A good school has caring and competent teachers who are steadfast in their mission to impact lives. A good school has the support of parents and the community, working together to bring out the best in our children. A good school cares for and provides opportunities to all students, regardless of family circumstances.
I am pleased that many parents are now checking out the schools in our neighbourhood. I am pleased to read in this issue of Young Parents which says, "Branded schools? No thanks. A neighbourhood Primary school could be the better choice" – on how parents are choosing schools in their neighbourhood that suit their children, raving about their neighbourhood schools. I applaud these parents. Indeed, I fully agree with a comment in the article that it is odd that we call these "neighbourhood schools" – after all, are not all schools in the neighbourhood? I want to assure you that I am fully committed, together with my team, to making Every School a Good School, and working with you to bring out the best in your child.
As Dr Intan pointed out, we have many peaks of excellence – peaks built on high bases. So, let us develop more of such peaks, multiply and spread good practices, grow good schools across a range of domains, to better meet the different needs of our children.
If you survey the school landscape today, we see a more colourful landscape. There are specialised schools in arts, music, sports, science,
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mathematics, for applied learning and hands-on learning. To add more colour to this landscape and enrich the learning environment, six months ago, I announced that we will have Applied Learning Programmes and Learning for Life Programmes in all our Secondary schools. Our schools can get up to $100,000 for these programmes.
As an example, Greendale Secondary School has a Design, Technology and Engineering Applied Learning Programme. Students learn cross-disciplinary design thinking skills and to make a difference to others. You can see on the slide here that the students have done a project because they noticed that the elderly have difficulties taking public transport. So, they invented an "EZ Card Holder", attached to walking sticks. This made it easier for the elderly to just tap their EZ-Link cards. The unit has sensors which activate a buzzer when walking stick falls over, to alert passers-by to provide help immediately. They tested a prototype and were encouraged by the level of interest from the public. But it is not just what they invent, but what they learn in the process. Student Nursarah shared that she was able to improve her communication, collaboration and problem solving skills – the skills that Ms Tan Su Shan and Ms Janice Koh both mentioned.
As you can see from the slides, our Secondary schools have a variety of programmes in visual and performing arts, physical education and sports science, community and youth leadership, and many others.
Mr Inderjit Singh and Mrs Lina Chiam spoke about resourcing of schools. Mrs Chiam mentioned about cuts to independent school funding. I have clarified in this House that we are not cutting independent school funding per se. Rather, as a result of the review, six independent schools actually got more funds and four had their funds reduced as part of a rationalisation exercise. Mrs Chiam also cited reduced funding. Let me clarify that that is on certain projects and that is because a great deal of upgrading projects have been completed. But our operating expenditure has been increasing.
One way to make Every School a Good School a reality is by resourcing our schools based on their needs. Every school gets baseline funding and good infrastructure. We are rolling out indoor sports halls in every school, synthetic fields for every school that needs it, PERI facilities as a result of the review earlier on – music rooms, dance studios, student care centres and so on.
Where appropriate, we will build specialised infrastructure fit-for-purpose. If we need a commercial-scale teaching kitchen like at Crest Secondary, we will
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invest. And, in fact, I have seen that lovely kitchen that is used to teach our students. If we need a laboratory for applied learning – we will invest.
But let me emphasise that it is not just about facilities and resources. The more I interact with educators and our specialists, the more I appreciate that teaching and learning are complex and intricate processes. It is not one specific subject, lesson, or way of doing things. It is not about smaller class size per se. It is about inspiring teachers who lead, care and inspire. It is about teachers who weave together curriculum, co-curricular activities, Values-In-Action programmes into teachable moments. They create an integrative and immersive environment, to create the opportunities for success, to encourage students to strive to learn. Just like what the schools had done for Dr Leonard Tan.
Our key strength in our national school system is in having a core of good teachers and principals across all our schools, committed to making Every School a Good School and bringing out the best in every child. These dedicated educators also constantly strive to look for innovative ideas to bring out the best in every child. So, we also appreciate good ideas that are surfaced to us.
Mr Inderjit has been raising the issue of streaming for many years, including in previous Parliaments. In the last Parliament, Ms Denise Phua expressed concerns about high-stakes PSLE examinations and pushed for changes.
MOE takes a systematic approach to making changes. We already have subject-based banding in Primary schools to prepare students for standard and foundational subjects at PSLE. Starting this year, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) students in 12 Secondary schools will be allowed to take some subjects at a higher level starting from Secondary 1.
Mr Yee Jenn Jong and Ms Denise Phua spoke about integrated schools. In fact, Ms Phua also presented a detailed proposal on Primary to Secondary integrated school in Parliament in January, the key elements which she repeated today and which in the earlier session I responded to. I appreciate that Ms Phua is a hands-on practitioner who understands the complexity of education. She has pioneered many innovative and effective practices in Pathlight and Eden Schools for children with autism. So, I would like to assure Ms Phua again that we will give her proposal serious consideration. It will take us some time to evaluate Members' ideas – whether it is cluster schools or broader development of talent, or through-train, because there are really a
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range of ideas that we can all explore. We can always do more for our schools, teachers and students, in order to bring out the best in every child.
We will expand the mix of programmes across our schools, and create a landscape with more distinctive schools. In doing so, we will not just have a handful of good schools, but every school is a good school.
But let me mention a very important initiative that we have just embarked on. We are currently expanding the range of programmes and the mix of programmes across our schools and creating a more colourful landscape with more distinctive schools. This is part of our effort of making every school a good school. Each will be good in its own ways, with its peaks of excellence, as Dr Intan pointed out, well-resourced with good teachers, and with varied programmes.
Even as we continue our efforts across our schools, we are also bringing out the best in every child at every stage of the learning journey.
Education is not a timed obstacle race, to collect qualifications in the fastest possible time; rather, our children's education is a journey of discovering their strengths, building their compass and their navigation skills.
This journey has many stages and is a lifelong one. It never ends!
At each stage, a child learns what is appropriate for that age, and builds the basics for the next stage. To make learning meaningful, each stage needs to be rigorous, well-designed and appropriate for the development of the child.
At preschool, our children develop socio-emotional skills through play and acquire the basics of numeracy and bilingual literacy.
We build on this foundation in Primary school. Queenstown Primary was the first school I visited on my first day of work when I joined MOE as Minister and I recently visited it again. I am very glad they have made so much progress in just two-odd years. Their students are now exposed to a rich variety of stimulus – in reading, writing, mathematics, arts, music, physical education and social interaction. They enjoy quality interaction with their form teachers, in dedicated Form Teacher Guidance Periods. I saw how deeply engaged our young students were on that day. And this is not just in Queenstown Primary.
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It is happening across all our Primary schools.
In Secondary schools, we help our students to pursue and deepen their strengths and interests, and further develop higher order skills. In the post-Secondary years, our students can make the best use of our wide range of pathways to progress.
It is remarkable that today, 96% of each cohort already progress to post-Secondary education – almost universal – up from just 88% a decade ago. I should add that not many countries have been able to achieve this.
Over the years, we have made these distinct pathways more interconnected to allow students to progress at different stages of their development. We have introduced the Polytechnic Foundation Programme, Direct Entry Scheme to Polytechnic Programme and the Enhanced NITEC Foundation Programme. All this is about creating more opportunities for our students.
We can be proud of our post-Secondary students' achievements. Now, this is Miss Catherine Boey [A slide was shown to hon Members]. She is the world's best in beauty therapy! Catherine won the Gold Medal for the Beauty Therapy Skill Area at the WorldSkills Competition in 2013 – the WorldSkills competition is hailed as the Olympics of Skills. Catherine is now at ITE. This has been a long Budget session. If Members need some rejuvenation and beauty therapy from the world's best, I will make the arrangements. Gentlemen could be included, too.
I met Catherine, together with many of our winners at the biennial WorldSkills Competition. This is a very intense competition and you can hear the drama that they go through. I am proud that our ITE and Polytechnic students outshone those from more advanced economies, from economies that have a longer history of skills-based training. It is a testament to the hard work of these students and the quality and standing of our ITE and our Polytechnics.
Catherine credits ITE and WorldSkills for providing her the opportunity to hone her skills; building her confidence in handling stressful situations; and learning how to work and interact with people from all over the world. She takes pride in her skills and I am very happy that she wants to pass it on to others. She is currently a Teaching Associate at ITE and will be pursuing further studies on an ITE Scholarship this year and then return to ITE as a lecturer after her
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studies. She hopes to be a role model to inspire her students to believe in themselves and achieve their dreams. Catherine is just one example of how we are bringing out the best in each child at every stage of the learning journey.
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman in his round-up speech for the Budget debate affirmed this Government's commitment to invest in every talent, not just in schools, but in lifelong learning. Indeed, to enable our young to seize opportunities, we must make a major shift in our mindsets, to go beyond qualifications, to build deep skills and expertise in every student. Mr Lim Biow Chuan spoke earlier on importance of skills to ensure that our young can continue to access opportunities.
We need to embrace the idea of craftsmanship and professionalism seriously, and encourage our students to pursue their areas of strengths. In doing so, we will develop a culture of mastery on the job, seeking not just competence but excellence. This starts with the basics. Film artist, Nor Azman Mohammed Rohman, has a job which many young people dream of. He is in Lucasfilm, and had worked on blockbusters like "Star Trek: Into Darkness" and "Pacific Rim". He said, "You have to have the patience to learn the basics properly and to get the fundamentals right."
Beyond getting the basics right, it must continue with a habit of lifelong learning to develop one's talent. The learning has to take place, day-in, day-out, on the job, and through professional upgrading. Only then can the virtues of craftsmanship and professionalism be built and deepened; taking pride in one's work and developing a culture of excellence.
I have met many Polytechnic and ITE students, and I enjoy our interactions. Their energy and drive to do well, and their passion for certain fields are infectious. I am proud of them, and I want to do more for them. That is why we set up the ASPIRE Committee chaired by Senior Minister of State Indranee. We will be working in close partnership with various industries to pioneer new pathways to develop the professionalism and craftsmanship of our young. So, I thank Mr Lim Biow Chuan and Dr Intan for speaking on ASPIRE earlier.
For two years now, I have officiated at the Singapore-Industry Scholarship (SgIS) Award Ceremony. We identified companies which are serious about developing a strong core of Singaporeans with deep skills and expertise to anchor strategic industries. Close to 200 scholarships have been given. It is not just the scholarships, it is the commitment to developing talent that we look
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forward in these companies and there are some big ones and some SMEs.
We are also expanding degree places, with distinctive applied degree pathways to be offered by SIT and UniSIM. Many Singaporean students will benefit. This, together with ASPIRE and Government-industry collaborations like the Singapore Industry Scholarship, is part of a larger effort to move beyond qualifications to a stronger focus on skills and expertise, on developing one's professional depth on the job, on developing craftsmanship, and on developing the instincts to pull together different strands of knowledge to solve real-world problems and to invent new possibilities. It is a very exciting development and a very major effort. Senior Minister of State Indranee will speak more about ASPIRE later.
By now, I hope Members appreciate the important shifts that we are making to continue to bring out the best in every child at every stage of their learning journey. If we see education as a long journey, then Primary school is just one stage of this journey. It is within this context that we are reviewing PSLE scoring and Direct School Admissions (DSA), as the Prime Minister mentioned during National Day Rally speech last year.
Changes to PSLE scoring will support a more holistic education for our students: PSLE will provide the assessment to help each child decide on the next step of his education journey that is best given his pace of development. Mr Lim Biow Chuan spoke about this earlier that the PSLE score should not determine the student's future, and that whatever it is, it is for students to make the best out of their Secondary education in school. I fully agree.
Mr Low Thia Khiang spoke about the need to be careful about the changes and I agree with Mr Low; that is why we are calibrating our changes carefully.
The PSLE is a long-standing assessment in our education system. In fact, I have been listening to the feedback at many sessions of Our Singapore Conversation last year – both the broader ones as well as MOE-focused ones – and at other platforms. I fully appreciate the concerns voiced over timing and the posting criteria for admissions to Secondary schools. It is still some time before we implement. I want to assure parents that there will be no sudden changes. We will give parents, teachers and schools sufficient time to adjust.
Right now, we are focused on working with parents so that they may better understand the variegated landscape of our schools and indeed meet the interests of their children and, therefore, how to make the best use of the many
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pathways available to bring out the best in their children – not in terms of their PSLE scores but in every domain. It is to prepare our students for the future, as several Members had spoken earlier about. We will release more details on the PSLE in due course.
Mr Ang Wei Neng and Mr Hri Kumar spoke about the DSA or the Direct School Admission. DSA recognises a broader range of abilities. It helps students enter schools with programmes that can develop their strengths and interests. We will be broadening the DSA to consider personal qualities of students, such as character, resilience, drive and leadership. In fact, some Secondary schools already consider these qualities through interviews, selection camps, feedback from Primary schools and so on.
We will make a small but important change by making this practice consistent in all schools with DSA, to emphasise importance of personal qualities. Let me emphasise that we are not adding a new DSA category. We are not increasing the total number of DSA places. As parents have told me, "Don't create new sources of pressure for students." So, parents need not worry that they have to send their children for enrichment classes or tuition classes to prepare for this.
The reason is this. Primary schools can identify the small handful of children with exceptional personal qualities. This is most obvious when a child thrives despite adversity brought about by life's inevitable difficulties. I have met quite a number of these students myself. Primary schools will look out for suitable programmes in Secondary schools based on the strengths of the child. Secondary schools taking in these students will consider them holistically in DSA selection. The rest of the DSA process remains largely unchanged.
Now, some parents and teachers have warned that it is difficult to quantify personal qualities. And indeed, we fully appreciate this. These are qualitative aspects, best observed through daily interactions over a sustained period of time in school.
In short, let me summarise what I have said: our children's education is a long journey. PSLE should be an important checkpoint so as to better support our children in their learning journey. DSA provides a pathway for students to develop areas of interest and strength.
The changes that we are making are important, but do see it as part of a broader effort to support the holistic development of each child and to bring
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out the best in every child, so as to prepare our children better for the future. I want to emphasise that there are many interconnected pathways to success, and at every stage of the journey. Let us equip them with a strong inner compass and navigation skills to excel in the future.
I have just spoken on how we are bringing out the best in every child at every stage of the learning journey. But some worry that there are children who cannot access the opportunities at various stages.
Let me now touch on how we bring out the best in every child, in every domain, in every school, at every stage of the learning journey, whatever the child's starting point. Making this happen is close to the hearts of many of us who work in education. We must strive for our education system to be open and inclusive. Children have different needs: learning needs, special needs and financial needs. MOE is committed to do more to support these students at all levels. Our approach is comprehensive: levelling-up programmes for literacy and numeracy; pastoral and student-care support; special needs support; and financial support.
Let us follow a child's learning journey through the various stages and how we will support them.
Entering preschool, if our child is weak in his ABCs, he can benefit from Focused Language Assistance in Reading or the FLAiR programme. Going into Primary school, what if our child is not strong enough with reading and numbers? I announced the expansion of our Learning Support Programmes and other levelling up programmes for English and Mathematics in Parliament last year. These programmes provide support for the weaker 15% of each cohort throughout the Primary school years and, if necessary, right through for the rest of the 10 years of basic education.
We already invest up to 20% more on these students over the course of their Primary education, compared to the average, and this will increase to 40% by 2017 as we expand these programmes. I would like to assure Mr Singh that we are very mindful of the importance of these programmes to bring out the best in every child. We are developing a critical mass of expert teachers to support this effort.
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After Primary school, in addition to school-based assistance, we also adopt a whole-school approach for some. Members are aware of the good outcomes of NorthLight School (NLS) and Assumption Pathway School (APS) in developing students who fail the PSLE. Before these schools were established, attrition rates were as high as 60% for this group of students. We have managed to lower this to 10% to 15% in a few short years. This is remarkable success. What it means is that many lives are transformed, many lives are changed for the better, and some children really blossom in these schools and discover the best in themselves. Many more are progressing to ITE and transiting to meaningful employment.
So, building on this success, we started Crest Secondary School (CSS) and Spectra Secondary School (SSS). This provides an alternative pathway for Normal (Technical) students. And, again, the response has been very encouraging. I have spoken to some of the parents myself. Attendance rates are close to 100%. More importantly, the students are engaged. These are all significant interventions. Whatever a child's starting point in terms of learning, there is support to help to bring out the best in him.
Mr Inderjit Singh expressed concerns that we are labelling students. Let me assure the Member that this is not the intention. As one of the board members of these schools once told me, and I quote, "The best antidote to stigma is success." He can speak on this with authority because having been once a student who struggled in a regular school, and I quote, "Between stigma and an opportunity to excel, I would choose opportunity to excel, rather than slowly see your interest dwindle away."
Learning is not just about ABCs and 123s. I am also a firm believer in the importance of socio-emotional learning. Beyond academic support, we are strengthening socio-emotional support through a number of programmes, including the expansion of school-based Student Care Centres (SCCs). Dr Intan and Mr Yee Jenn Jong both spoke on this. And I agree with Dr Intan that, indeed, Student Care Centres provide a conducive environment for learning, especially for those from less advantaged backgrounds. We have significantly expanded in the past few years. Just three years ago, we had fewer than 40; now we have 80 school-based Student Care Centres in our Primary schools.
I have visited many of our Student Care Centres and it is a joy to see happy, engaged children. I am happy to announce that over the next two years, we will increase the number of school-based Student Care Centres by 50%, or 40 more. That means, by the end next year, almost two-thirds of our Primary schools will have Student Care Centres. I look forward to more innovative care programmes
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and even more happy and engaged children. Mr Alvin Yeo spoke about full-day schools. Let us start by having really good Student Care Centres in our schools.
I spoke about bringing out the best in every child, whatever his starting point in terms of learning needs. What about special needs? Now, Ms Denise Phua has been a passionate advocate for us to do more to support the needs of students with special needs. We have significantly enhanced support for children with special needs in schools and in our IHLs. We continue to work closely with VWO-run special education (SPED) schools to improve their curriculum and enhance our support for them. Many of us, including Minister of State Sim Ann and myself, have visited many of these schools and they are doing very good work.
I have also met many students with dyslexia, and know many successful adults who have dyslexia. With intervention, they can learn to overcome difficulties and build a good foundation in literacy. Our pilot programmes have been very helpful for children with dyslexia. From this year, we have expanded school-based dyslexia remediation to 20 more schools – making it a total of 62 such schools, spread across the island.
Before I go on, let me share a reflection on Singaporeans with special needs. I had the privilege of working with Ms Chia Yong Yong, President of the Society for the Physically Disabled, in Our Singapore Conversation Committee, and now with Dr Yeo Sze Ling, research scientist at A*STAR in our Singapore50 Committee. Yong Yong has a muscular disorder and Sze Ling lost her sight at age four. They show great tenacity and have come a long way. They are cheerful and optimistic. They embody that "can do" spirit. They made a success of their own lives and go on to contribute to others.
Members would have read in the papers when the "A" levels results were released, of Ms Amanda Chong, a Pioneer JC student who suffered glaucoma at the age of three and her vision at end of her Junior College Year 1. Her studies suffered, especially in Economics and Mathematics, which are graphics-heavy. Despite that, she went on to do extremely well in her "A" levels. I am not lauding her just for her grades, but rather for her remarkable spirit. As one of our educators shared with me, and I quote, "While the world became pitch dark to her, the darkness did not consume her. Instead, she continued to see beauty in her life and brought light, hope and inspiration to the people around her." It is truly, truly inspiring.
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Each year, about 1% of our students who enter the ITE, Polytechnics or publicly-funded Universities have some form of special education needs. I agree with Ms Denise Phua that we must do more to support our children, so that needs do not mean limits, and that we can bring out their very best so that we have many more Yong Yongs, Sze Lings and Amandas.
Ms Phua would be very happy that we will be setting up Disability Support Offices in ITEs, all Polytechnics and publicly-funded Universities. A Special Education Needs Fund will also be set aside to alleviate the cost of assistive technology devices and support services. I feel strongly that these enhancements will make a significant difference to the students. Minister of State Sim Ann will speak more on this later.
I have covered learning needs, special educational needs. I would like to now touch on financial needs. Let me first acknowledge our Singapore parents. An admirable trait of our parents is that whatever their financial circumstances, they put their children's education first and foremost. I am sure all of us have met these parents, and I have met many of them myself. I want to help parents succeed in bringing out the best in every of their children. Financial circumstances should not be the limiting factor.
Starting from pre-school, on top of the generous Child Care subsidies, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman announced the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS). The Minister for Social and Family Development will provide details later, but I am happy to add that for MOE kindergartens, this could mean paying as low as $1.50 a month.
We have also significantly enhanced coverage of financial support in schools over the years. In 2012, we expanded the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) for students. This year, bursaries for students at Independent Schools were enhanced. More than 68,000 students benefited last year. This is more than a four-fold increase from a decade ago.
We have also provided more funds for our schools this year for school-based financial assistance so that schools can act flexibly on the ground. Schools with more needy students will get more funds. We also have the Opportunity Fund to ensure students from less advantaged backgrounds are not denied learning opportunities in school. From pre-school to 10 years of basic education, there is good support for bringing out the best in every child, whatever his financial starting point.
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Higher education in Singapore is already highly subsidised and MOE is committed to making higher education even more accessible to our students. This is a very important phase for bringing out their best. From academic year 2014, students from lower and middle-income families in our Institutes of Higher Learning will receive more substantial financial support. We will make higher education more accessible for lower- and middle-income groups in two ways: by raising the income thresholds for bursaries and by raising bursary amounts. This means more Singaporean students will qualify for bursaries and they will each get more. In all, 120,000 Singaporean students stand to benefit – again, a very substantial increase.
Now, if you look at this chart [A slide was shown to hon Members. Please refer to Annex 1.] for ITE students, if you are enrolled in ITE, the bursaries will not only fully cover the fees – which is about $310 – but also provide for living allowances of about $50 to $70 a month. If they are in Polytechnics, 80% of the fees for the lower income students will be covered. The bursary of $2,000 will cover about 80% of their fees. University students in lower-income families will have about 45% of their fees covered – almost half. Students from the middle-income households will also benefit from a sizeable increase in the bursary quantum. These changes, together the recent concessions on transport fares for Polytechnic students, will reduce the financial burden of many students [Slides were shown to hon Members. Please refer to Annex 2 and Annex 3.]
I should reiterate that these bursaries come on top of the very high level of subsidies which all our students in our Institutes of Higher Learning already enjoy, which all students enjoy regardless of family income.
By ensuring access to high-quality education opportunities, we aim to bring out the best in every child, whatever his financial starting point, learning needs or special education needs.
I have said that we want to bring out the best in every child, in every domain, in every school, at every stage of the learning journey, whatever the starting point. To achieve this, we have to do it in partnership – in partnership with the community. As the old adage goes: it takes a village to raise a child. We are not just raising a child, but bringing out his best. It is not just any village, but one that really cares and is fully committed to this mission.
When a child can reach his best, the whole village rejoices and benefits, as my story of Dr Leonard Tan illustrates, and that of Ms Catherine Boey and all
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the students who have gone on to achieve their best.
There are many excellent teachers, allied educators, counsellors and psychologists in our school system. I have met many myself.
Last month, at the Pioneer Generation Tribute Event, I met teachers who, together, have accumulated thousands of years of experience between them. Some are still teaching, some passing on their experiences to younger teachers. They have brought out the best in their students and seen for themselves their students reaching their best. Younger teachers who met them that day were inspired. There is a long and deep tradition of care in our teaching service.
Last month, I gave out National Day awards to over 280 teachers who made the difference to many students, and in the room you could feel their dedication and their passion for their students – it is remarkable.
In November 2012, I attended the Singapore International Science Teachers Conference. This was held during the school holidays. Every one of the 500 participants had signed up voluntarily and all had this passion to improve their skills in order to teach our children better. So, they are learning to teach and I hope that they also teach to learn.
Mrs Chiam raised the issue of teachers' well-being. And, indeed, this is very much at the heart of our concern. Over the last few years alone, we have significantly increased the number of teachers, allied educators that support our teachers in teaching and learning and in behavioural support as well as our executive and administrative staff in our schools. I want to assure Mrs Chiam and Ms Janice Koh that if you look at the international comparisons of the number of teachers to the number of students in our school system, we can hold our head high. As I have said, it is not just about numbers; it is really about the heart; in getting the right people with the heart for teaching. Our school leaders are very caring leaders and, in many instances, I have heard of so many stories of how they provide flexibility for teachers.
When we want to bring out the best in our children, we need to help our teachers reach their personal and professional best, too. I am committed to enabling our teachers to continue to grow. I applaud the culture of dedication, sharing and professional-led excellence. Our teachers are lifelong students.
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In the coming years, the Academy of Singapore Teachers (AST) and our specialised teachers' academies will do even more to lead and inspire the continuing professional development of our teachers. Many teachers are also forming spontaneous networks of learning communities to share effective practices. For example, teachers in the Normal (Technical) Professional Focus Group come together to share and learn one another's best practices that can bring out the best in their students. When the teachers themselves grow and feel fulfilled, motivated and supported, the students under them can blossom.
Let me now say a few words about parents. Parents are a child's first, and most important, teachers. We are fortunate to have a culture where parents want an active role in the child's learning. We respect and appreciate that. We must work together with parents to bring out the best in their children. Over the last few years, schools have stepped up their efforts to work hand-in-hand with parents. I heartily support this and hope to see even more.
MOE has seeded funding through the Parent Support Group (PSG) Fund. To keep up the good partnership, we will provide an annual top-up of up to $2,500 per school to fund our schools' parent engagement efforts. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Hawazi and Minister of State Sim Ann will talk about how our parents and the community have enabled our children to have richer learning experiences – be it in bilingualism or learning about our region.
Sir, Singapore is a young country, but we have a wealth of wisdom in our pioneers and a wealth of spirit in our young. As we approach our 50th year of Independence, let us honour the efforts of our forefathers, particularly educators in the Pioneer Generation who built up the education system to what it is today. With very little, they achieved a lot.
I met Mrs Niva Dutt at the Pioneer Generation event. She was the former Principal of Cedar Girls. She had brought her grandson along. She told me and I quote, "I want him to learn from this Pioneer Generation, about hard work and sacrifice, and to remember to respect them". What was most touching was that the young man was most enthusiastic to speak with the teachers who were there and to learn from them.
My hope is that each child can reach his best and go on to be a pioneer in his own way, inspiring others and passing on the best to generations to come, like our pioneers have done. To do this, our children need to have strong skills, character and values, a strong commitment to Singapore and fellow Singaporeans, and a strong conviction that they have all of our fullest support
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and love.
I hope Members can see how we are seeking 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.
Sir, I would like to urge the Education Ministry to strengthen its efforts in promoting interest, awareness, knowledge, and the study of Asia in our schools, especially in the institutions of higher learning.
There is, I am afraid, a worrying level of ignorance and perhaps even condescension among some of our students towards Asia. This attitude is partly reflected in how study trips and university exchange programmes in Asia rank lowly with our students, and pales in comparison with those in Europe and North America.
But beyond that, it is also the fact that they do not see Asia as being important. Part of the problem lies, I think, in the lack of knowledge, compounded by stereotypes of Asian societies, cultures, histories and politics.
This knowledge and empathy gap is worrying because we are an integral part of Asia. The economic centre of gravity is likely to shift indefinitely to Asia within the next decade or two. Most Singaporeans can also trace their cultural roots to Asia as well.
Asia is vast. Even within countries like China and India, there is tremendous diversity. I am concerned that the combination of relative ignorance of and the lack of empathy and appreciation towards Asia will work against our larger interests.
We urgently need to instill a sense of realism, improve knowledge levels, acquire a nuanced understanding and a holistic appreciation of Asia, a region that is of central importance to us politically, economically and culturally.
We need to inculcate in our young an open mind, an enquiring attitude and an appreciation of the strengths, weaknesses and diversity towards the world
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at large, but especially towards Asia.
More can be done to ensure that younger generations of Singaporeans better appreciate our place in Asia, in particular, Southeast Asia.
Sir, we face the difficult task of equipping students to succeed in a competitive global economy, a knowledge-based society, and a hyper-connected, digital age. Today, our students are worried about job availability. Our PMETs are constantly displaced by cheaper foreign hires, and our older age seniors can no longer withdraw CPF in lump sum.
Without the ingenuity to land and compete for jobs, our young people will be subject to unemployment like their PMET seniors – those born after 1965. Already, the Government is finding the task difficult to keep middle-aged PMETs employed. I see this as a warning for our younger generation as well. Work must start now. We need a curriculum with a blend of academic, technical and critical thinking skills. Our students need to learn collaboration and communication, not from textbooks, but from life projects.
I urge the Minister for Education to consider international exposure for our students, where up to 20% of our students can be sent for overseas exchange funded by Government. This works both ways as we also receive 20% of international students in our schools.
I propose that in the medium term, international schools in Singapore should not merely serve the needs of our expatriates, but to serve as an additional source of supply for education services for Singaporeans, to be subsidised by the Government. The intention is to ensure a portion of our student remains globally connected. If left to market forces, the lower and medium income families will not be able to afford such services.
One of the key reasons why our parents are not keen to give birth is the cost of educating a child. We should commit to supporting the full cost of education until the child is 16.
Sir, I have taken interns in my companies for the last 13 years, from Secondary to tertiary students. I made it a point to expose them
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to real-life work, as relevant as possible to their training, skills and interests.
Internship is an important part of tertiary training, as the Minister has just said. This will be even more so when we run practice-based Universities. Even research universities need to develop meaningful internships to allow their students to keep abreast of industry needs. Countries like Germany have strong internship programmes. Often, graduates continue to work for the companies they interned in. Research know-how from German universities has also strengthened the technical capabilities of companies, through internship and apprenticeship links.
Sir, there may develop a gap between the number of interns and the availability of meaningful internship places as we increase our University intake. From my experience, I also found differing intensity of engagement by education institutions and their supervisors with companies like mine.
Internship can be an effort beyond the institutions. It can be at the country level. We can identify technical skills needed in priority sectors and help inject these capabilities into local companies to make them global players. The Government can work with larger companies to identify those prepared to commit a minimum number of internship places with real-world projects and support companies by funding an internship manager. This manager can mentor interns and even guide them while they work part-time from their schools on projects initiated during internship. This will allow companies to assign longer and realistic internship projects and tap on academic supervisors to guide students in research.
By building deeper engagement, it will raise the bar for internship across the country and foster closer links between the industry and research done in tertiary institutions.
Sir, I declare my interest as an academic at the Singapore Management University.
In our worthy quest to have world-class universities, the irony is that one casualty is scholarship on Singapore. The incentives for performance bonuses, tenure and promotion mean that academics are often driven to be "strategic" in their research, publications and teaching.
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Put simply, top-tier, peer-reviewed academic journals in the social sciences and humanities, in particular, are not typically enamoured with top-rate scholarship on Singapore compared with other topics. Why is this so? It is a function of our small size and our unique political development. Scholarship on Singapore is deemed to be of very limited applicability in academia.
The harsh reality is that Singapore studies are not regarded as being relevant or appealing enough to most journals' readership. One such area is the study of Singapore government and politics. Another area is Singapore law.
The then Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong in a 2007 speech described the situation I just outlined as a "tension between the need to write on Singapore law for local consumption and the need to write for international recognition".
Singapore's history and development and our unique set of political, social, economic, cultural policies, and institutions are seen as exceptions or even oddities to the Western audience. Perversely enough, to increase the odds of publishing well in the field of social sciences and the humanities on Singapore topics, one probably has to be unfairly critical, almost polemical, in analysing and admonishing of Singapore. There are academics overseas who have created a lucrative academic industry of caricaturizing Singapore. Put bluntly, bashing Singapore pays.
In MOE's 2012 Committee of Supply, I argued that it is important to develop Singaporean talent in the various disciplines, particularly in areas that are important or perhaps even of strategic interest to Singapore. In these areas, it is crucial to have Singaporean talent and expertise grounded in a firm commitment to Singapore and with a subtle and nuanced understanding of the Singapore context.
Then Chief Justice Chan in the same speech urged law academics to "strike a proper balance between personal and national interests". Can there be more recognition given to our academics who work on Singapore? We urgently need to go beyond lip service. MOE should take the lead if the Autonomous Universities are not willing to do so.
Sir, I declare my interest as an environment educator. In the 2012 Committee of Supply, I had asked why environment education has not been given emphasis in adventure education
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programmes for schools. The basis for my question is that for a holistic outdoor education, it is not enough that students experience only the physically and mentally challenging team-bonding and personal reflection of adventure education. There has to be a component of environment education as well, so that students are eco-literate. Personal reflection should include a sound understanding, awareness and consciousness of human impact on the environment, not only through the outdoor activities, but also in daily life as well so that students are guided and supported to make responsible life-affirming choices.
Last year, I had asked how much emphasis would be given to environment education and preschools in the present environment awareness or "Discover Your World" preschool curriculum. For this year's COS, I would like an update and I have four related questions.
Firstly, beyond environment education, through local field trips that were mentioned by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Hawazi Daipi today, how far have schools included the environment education component in their schools' adventure education and camping trips, both local and overseas? For example, when students hiked up Bukit Timah or Gotong Ladang as part of their school camp, is there also a component and facilitation session where they also learn about, say, the unique biodiversity of the area or issues relating to deforestation and climate change? Second, in general, are teachers in charge of the environment component at all schools given specialised training in the facilitation of such programmes? And with regard to early childhood educators, are they also given specialised training as well? Lastly, what is the range of courses available in our Polytechnics and Universities which offer environment-related modules?
Sir, last year, NUS announced a three-month online plus three-month campus learning programme for incoming undergraduates who have completed National Service. The programme qualifies for academic credits.
Last month, NTU went one up. Its online courses allow anyone to earn credits and transfer these to NTU if they enrol as an undergraduate later.
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MINDEF has initiated a Committee to Strengthen National Service (CSNS). Amongst other things, it is looking at how skills picked up during NS could be recognised in civilian life. An example is the Swiss allowing the transfer of skills or leadership positions in the military into credits in universities.
Online learning is now widely used everywhere. We can marry the ideas started by the universities and what MINDEF is looking at, by having more programmes to engage NSFs in continuous learning.
A Straits Times article last year highlighted that more NSFs are studying part-time, but with private providers. NSFs will have varying degrees of free time. Online can let them pace themselves and learn even whilst in camp.
Our schools can look at courses that can expand on what NSFs are learning in their vocations. MINDEF has gone high-tech. Universities can offer courses, such as computing, telecommunications and engineering, that explore the technology behind the weapons and tools that NSFs use. Management schools can engage them in leadership and soft skills.
Sir, in a written reply to a Parliamentary Question I filed last month, the Education Ministry stated that in the past five years, students admitted under the Autonomous Universities' Discretionary Admission Scheme (DAS) accounted for between 1% and 10% of each intake.
In my view, this range is too wide, and a figure of 10% of a cohort admitted under DAS is too high. With a conservative ballpark figure of 12,000 University places per admission cohort in our AUs in the last five years, it means that there was, at least in one year, where 1,200 undergraduates were admitted under the DAS.
Just as I support the Direct School Admission in our national schools, there is a place for the DAS in our AUs. DAS students, with their special strengths and talents, can meaningfully add to the educational experience of their peers and enrich university life.
But, in my view, undergraduates admitted under DAS should not exceed 3% to 5% of each admission cohort. As I understand it, many DAS cases are students who qualified for local University admission but who would not have
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been admitted based on their academic results alone.
Admission to our Universities is very competitive. Every place for a DAS student means a place denied to a student who would otherwise have been admitted based on academic merit. I urge the Ministry to exert greater oversight of the DAS in our Autonomous Universities.
Sir, the education landscape today is still largely focused on the accumulation of knowledge. Given the competitive testing environment, the pedagogy is based on a banking system of learning, that is, accumulating knowledge in the hope that one day, in the future, it will be useful when one needs it. In the past, Confucius would have said that the pursuit of knowledge is about "learning to ask" or "学问". Today, however, the pursuit of knowledge is one of “学了方可就业”, that is, "learning so that one can get a job".
But the world, as we know, is changing at an unprecedented pace. Just as Deputy Prime Minister Tharman has highlighted in his Budget round-up speech, we do not even know what jobs might look like in the future.
Sir, it is time for us to go back to “学问” and learn how to ask. Only by asking, one starts to understand and prepare for the future, and find out what the world needs and appreciate how one might contribute meaningfully to it. Our children need the capacity to question the status quo, to look at information with a critical and an inquisitive mind, and to respond creatively and imaginatively to it.
I believe that what is needed now is an education system that reflects the priorities of a creative age. We must consider a more balanced, a more multidisciplinary approach, one that places the arts on equal footing with the sciences, so that our students have the opportunity to learn how to use multiple intelligences and tap into the imaginative thinking that leads to discovery and invention.
I know MOE recognises the need for a more holistic outlook on education. Under its new Framework for 21st Century Competencies, the Ministry has plans to strengthen the teaching of physical, art and music education in schools. It is a great start.
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However, I would like to question the continued focus on music and visual art as the only art components in the core curriculum. The focus on Music and Art prevent teachers from actively tapping into a wide range of arts pedagogies available. In Australia, for instance, dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts are defined as the five art forms in their curriculum. Finland, which consistently performs well in PISA, is even more forward-looking, and specifies nine art forms, including architecture, circus and craft.
Sir, I would like to suggest, for a start, that the Ministry consider introducing drama as an art form and as a recognised pedagogical tool in our core curriculum at Primary and Secondary school. I recommend this for three reasons.
First, the benefits of drama are manifold. The dialogical processes of improvisation and character-building invite students to ask questions about human behaviour, to observe, listen and build empathy towards others, and to think and express themselves on their feet. Students learn to conceive original ideas, and are taught the creative process, which is an important way to help them understand how ideas are realised and implemented, and how to work with others to make them succeed.
Second, drama is already being used to teach core curriculum subjects in more than 180 Primary and Secondary schools, which is more than 70% of all the Primary and Secondary schools. A recent NIE study shows that a majority of schools employ drama to teach English, Literature and Mother Tongue, with a smaller number using it to teach Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and the Humanities.
Thirdly, despite the increased demand to incorporate drama into the classroom, what is disturbing is that it is not accompanied by the requisite increase in teacher-training. The same study shows that less than 30% of teachers currently using drama have a strong background in the art form. Many teachers have voiced their inadequacy for this task, given their lack of understanding and exposure.
There is clearly a need for more teacher-training and support in this area. Sir, as the Education Minister has described earlier, these are teachers who are also desiring to learn to teach. These are teachers who have the heart to train. Can we support them in this journey? Would the Ministry increase opportunities for teachers to learn drama pedagogy, at both pre-service and in-service levels? One way would be for NIE to provide a foundational drama module for pre-
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service teachers so that they all have a basic understanding of drama before even trying to use it in the classroom. Similarly, the Singapore Teachers Academy for the Arts (STAR) could also provide workshops and advice to in-service teachers on how to design drama curricula as an on-going resource.
MOE could also work collaboratively with specialist arts educators on the ground to develop partnership programmes that would support teachers and schools who are keen to do this. The "Teaching Through the Arts" programme, helmed by the National Arts Council, is a good example. Teachers tap into the expertise of arts educators, who mentor them on how to integrate art pedagogies in the teaching of Mathematics and Science. I understand it has been very well-received at Haig Girls' School. The girls are enjoying Mathematics so much more now that they are asking their arts educator, "Are you coming back again?" This programme is only in place at eight or nine schools, but there should be more and they should be formally integrated into the learning environment.
Sir, the formal integration of drama would encourage schools to support teachers with the necessary resources and time to develop good drama curricula for our students. The rebalancing of our system to bring the arts on an equal footing with the sciences is not about producing artists. It is about producing individuals, schooled in both the arts and sciences, who are confident, broad-minded, able to ask questions, and able to look at the world in all its beauty and complexity.
Mr Chairman, what is the ultimate purpose of education? As Minister Heng indicated, it is to bring out the best in every child, to prepare them for the future – not only for jobs but also for life. All the initiatives and steps that we have taken are with these goals in mind.
Minister has given a macro overview. I will deal with two specific areas – tertiary and pre-school. We have, step by step, been transforming the tertiary education landscape. Prior to 2000, we had two Universities – NUS and NTU. In 2000, SMU was established. It introduced the US-style university, complementing the other two older universities modelled along British lines. In 2009, SUTD was established, with a focus on design, engineering training and research. And in 2010, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) was set up, providing an additional upgrading pathway for Poly graduates.
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In August 2012, the Committee for the University Education Pathways Beyond 2015 (CUEP), chaired by then Senior Minister of State for Education and Information Mr Lawrence Wong, made several key recommendations in its report.
One, to increase the cohort participation in our publicly-funded Universities. And two, to have a new applied degree pathway. I want to spend some time explaining this idea of an applied pathway because I am not sure if it is well understood across the board, but it is very important.
The applied pathway focuses on the practical application of specialised knowledge and prepares students for specific professions with a strong nexus to the industry and economy. SIT and UniSIM were identified as the two new applied Universities, the other Universities being research universities. The report also recommended Continuing Education and Training for lifelong learning and financial assistance for mature students taking part-time degrees at UniSIM.
You can see from this, how step by step but with gathering momentum, we have been diversifying the University landscape and increasing the opportunities for young Singaporeans.
With that part underway, we are now focusing on the Polytechnics and ITE. And this brings me to ASPIRE. In November 2013, the Prime Minister announced the formation of the committee for the Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review (ASPIRE), which I am chairing.
Members have made reference to this. Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked for an update of the committee's work, Mr Yee Jenn Jong spoke about internships, and Mrs Lina Chiam spoke about international exposure for students and the promotion of entrepreneurship. These are the issues which ASPIRE is looking at. Before I go into the details of ASPIRE, let me first explain the driving considerations behind its work.
Mr Chairman, with your permission, may I ask the Clerks to distribute the handouts and display a slide on the LED screens regarding youth unemployment rates around the world?
Yes, Please. [A slide was shown to hon Members. Please refer to Annex 4.]
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This chart shows the state of youth unemployment based on figures from a 2012 OECD report. You will see right at the top, 51% youth unemployment, Greece and Spain. Portugal and Italy, with 36% youth unemployment. These are understandably due to economic conditions.
However, in the US, according to their Bureau of Statistics, there are 3.8 million job openings while approximately 11.8 million are unemployed. This suggests that one reason for part of their unemployment rate is a mismatch between skills and qualifications in demand and the skills and qualifications their people have.
The Finnish and Korean figures, 19.4% and 9.5% respectively, also tell us that a degree qualification is not a guarantee of a job. There must be alignment between skills supply and job demand.
Germany and Switzerland on the other hand have low youth unemployment rates, 7.9% and 7.5% respectively – and one of the key reasons is their strong vocational education and training through apprenticeships, which ensure that many students leave their system with skills relevant to available jobs. So, that is the first thing – aligning skills and demand.
The second is equipping Singaporeans for the future. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman a few days ago highlighted the unpredictability of the future workplace and how digitalisation is transforming not just businesses but jobs.
When I first started work as a lawyer 26 years ago, we had what was considered the forefront of technology at that time: the electronic typewriter with a two-line screen that was used by the secretary; a telex machine that was used by the telex operator; a fax machine that was operated by the fax operator; and the phone was routed through the switchboard which was operated by the phone operator.
Four different machines, handled by four different people, four different jobs. Today, we have the iPhone. All of those functions and everything that those four people did can be done by this. These jobs are gone, except possibly for the secretaries who will probably always be needed. This one single device has disrupted jobs and changed the economic scene.
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Today, you can have a job as an app designer. This job not only did not exist 26 years ago, but the possibility of its existence was not even in anyone's contemplation back then. And what has happened before will happen again. So, the question is, how can our education system help prepare our students for life and a career, now and in the future?
These are the goals of ASPIRE:
(a) Ensuring that our Polytechnic and ITE students are highly employable, with highly sought-after skills, we want them to have different options to progress upwards;
(b) We want to give them the skills to navigate the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) environment. We want them to have resilience, leadership, adaptability, problem solving, communication skills; and
(c) We also want to lay the foundations for them to become entrepreneurs, innovators and business owners.
We hope to achieve this by strengthening applied learning in the Polytechnics and ITEs because applied learning, by its very nature, promotes these outcomes.
I led a trip to Switzerland and Germany last month to study their applied education model. It was a good learning experience. But as each country is unique, we cannot simply replicate what they have. At the same time though, we saw many familiar elements which assured us that we are on the right track. We have in place many of the pieces that have led to their success – strong vocational training institutions, industry-relevant training and industry partnerships. However, there are also takeaways and ideas from which we can learn. For example, this [A slide was shown to hon Members], we went to a company and, in that company, they had set up another company and the students were the MD, Accountant, CFO and the guys who have to take the orders. They basically had this subsidiary which they ran as a company but putting the students in there so that the students would get corporate experience and have to make the kind of decisions that you would have to do in real life.
So, the things that ASPIRE is currently considering include:
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One, enhanced internships and the value of applied learning through enhanced internships which are as follows: aligning skills to industry demand, so that our students can be assured of a job; combining theory and practice; making sure the real-life environment facilitates the learning of the life skills I mentioned earlier; and also providing a strong base for them to be skilled workers, business owners or entrepreneurs.
This is Mr James Tan [A slide was shown to hon Members], who is currently a Duty Terminal Manager with Changi Airport Group (CAG). James did his internship at Changi Airport and he was awarded the "Extra Mile Award" by CAG for his performance. Due to his outstanding contribution during his internship, he was the first intern to be recruited to become a Duty Terminal Manager since the commencement of CAG's Changi Youth Ambassador Programme.
Two, we are also considering (a) progression pathways and opportunities where promotions and progress are based on competency and skills; and (b) the use of skills frameworks or professional industry certifications to achieve this and we would like to pilot them in suitable sectors.
We also want to have enhanced career guidance to get a better matching of student strengths to the courses that they take. We are also looking at support for students who have difficulties and who are not meeting their full potential, especially those at risk of dropping out. So, you can see, graduating from Polytechnic or ITE is also not an end in itself, but it is a wonderful beginning.
We are looking at Continuing Education and Training for the Polytechnic and ITE students so that they can continue to learn and progress even after they graduate from Polytechnic and ITE. We want them to have options to work immediately after graduation; pursue further studies after graduation; work first and then continue with education or get professional or technical certifications; get further training after getting valuable working experience; or become business owners or entrepreneurs.
I had a case in my Meet-the-People Session. An ITE student came to see me for an appeal. He wanted to pursue a technical diploma in automotive engineering as he wanted to have his own automotive business. He wants to be a boss, not an employee, and he is pursuing his dream through the ITE route.
ASPIRE is also reviewing how to strengthen and deepen Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) in Polytechnics and ITEs. Not many people
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realise this, but our Polytechnics and ITEs are centres of Research, Innovation and Enterprise.
Can I invite Members to have a look at this on the screen [A slide was shown to hon Members] and guess what it is? It is actually an edible nutrient sheet developed by Singapore Poly's Food Innovation and Resource Centre in collaboration with industry. So, you can see the green part is broccoli, the orange part is carrot mash, the red part which forms the car is beetroot, the wheels are spinach, and the ground is ground-up mushrooms. And this is ideal for getting young children to eat their vegetables. It is also very good for transportation because you can have the nutrients available. And I asked them whether there were preservatives, they said, "No". So, that was a good thing. And what you do is you put it over warm rice, and then it softens, and you can eat it.
The second one is that of a device [A slide was shown to hon Members ]. You can see this device attached to the kidney area and if you feel a twinge as you look at it, there is a reason for that. This is called a Percutaneous Access to Kidney Assist Device. But, basically, what it does is to help the surgeon to hold steady when locating a kidney stone so that his hand does not shake. It is thus much easier when you conduct a surgery. It was developed by ITE's Technology Development Centre with NUS and NUH. So, this hands-on, practice-oriented, problem-solving nature of applied learning in the Polytechnics and ITE, as well as the research, innovation and enterprise project work that the students do, is uniquely suited to developing young entrepreneurs.
One such entrepreneur is Mr Darran Nathan. He is a Ngee Ann Poly graduate and a technopreneur. He developed a useful base of skills in Polytechnic, and after National Service, with support from his Polytechnic and SPRING, he commercialised the research that he did at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and co-founded Progeniq, which provides high performance computing solutions, helping digital animators to speed up production of visual effects in Hollywood and Bollywood films.
But ASPIRE's work is not without challenges. As we saw in Europe, a critical enabler is strong industry ownership of vocational training. Over there, it is the companies who are responsible for taking on apprentices and they provide the training. They help apprentices to find schools to provide the theoretical education. Employers see themselves as co-developers of talent and invest heavily in training and teaching employees. But they derive a benefit in terms
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of access to skilled employees and a recruitment pipeline.
Here, employers regard career education as the task of the educational institutions, rather than as a joint endeavour. In order for us to achieve the outcomes outlined earlier, there will have to be a much deeper collaboration and co-ownership between industry and the IHLs. And this will require a mindset shift.
However, I am cheered by the interest that has been expressed by industries so far and we are working with them to develop a viable model that suits Singapore's circumstances.
Another challenge is how we view vocational training and jobs. Right now, it is still a paper chase. We have to see each job as something valuable in its own right, and place value on professionalism, technical skills and craftsmanship. As has been said: "It's not what you know; it's what you can do with what you know."
As you can see, ASPIRE's work is multi-faceted. We will not be able to achieve what we hope to unless all the stakeholders are on board. So, for the composition of the ASPIRE Committee, we have private sector representatives, people from the industries, and Government agencies – not just MOE, but people from the Polytechnics, ITEs, Universities and representatives from EDB, SPRING and WDA. We are also actively engaging all the stakeholders – the students, the alumni, the parents, the teachers and the industry players.
In conclusion, on this topic, let me introduce, or launch, the ASPIRE logo. We wanted a logo to reflect what ASPIRE stands for, and initially MOE embarked on doing it in-house. Then we realised – no, this is for the students, so the logo should come from them because they are the best people to express what they think and feel about it. So, we had an open competition across all the Polytechnics and ITE. There were close to 400 entries. The winner, Loh Jun Jie, a third-year student doing a diploma in Visual Communications at NYP, produced this [A slide was shown to hon Members]. This is his winning entry, and you can see it is very professionally done. It is a reflection of the creativity and artistic talent of our Polytechnic students and it is an example of the promise and potential that they have. We want to bring out the best in each and every one of them, and give them as many opportunities as possible to succeed. This is what ASPIRE aspires to do.
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I move on now to preschool education.
Bringing out the best in every child at every stage of the learning journey and that journey begins at preschool. Much of a child's development is influenced by their learning, exposure and experiences in their early years. This is why we put a lot of effort and resources to uplift the quality of preschool education, including the quality of preschool teachers, the preschool curriculum and the preschool pedagogy.
Even as we improve the quality, we are mindful that preschool education should continue to be accessible and affordable to all. And that is why MOE set up the MOE Kindergartens (MKs). The first five pilot MKs started their first batch of K1 classes in January 2014. All of them are progressing well.
I visited the MK in Punggol View Primary School. Although it only started in January this year, the teachers and children at the school have already initiated collaborations with the kindergarten children and teachers. For the Lunar New Year celebrations, the Primary 2 students and kindergarten children worked together to make greeting cards for the community. Through that interaction, the older students learn values, such as responsibility and care for their younger peers, while the kindergarten children learnt teamwork through the activity. The children then gave the cards to the homes in the neighbourhood, which helped them to start thinking in terms of being part of a community.
As announced last week, five more MKs will commence operations in 2015. Four of them are located in Primary schools, so that we can have a diversity of sites which allows us to try different things and compare pros and cons, one of them will be located within the community site in Yishun. These five kindergartens will also have care services because we understand the needs of working parents, and we will continue to pilot innovative approaches to teaching and learning. We will also continue to reserve a third of the places for low-income families and provide subsidies. So, every child in preschool will have access to the opportunities afforded through education, irrespective of their financial background.
On preschool curriculum, the curriculum, teaching and learning resources in MKs are based on the belief and principles reflected in the refreshed Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) Framework for a quality kindergarten curriculum.
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MOE's underlying philosophy is about teaching children to learn and to discover the joy of learning. The MKs offer a curriculum with a distinct Singapore flavour to allow children to learn in an authentic context.
For example, the HI-Light Programme supports holistic development of children in six learning areas: aesthetics and creative expression; discovery of the world; language and literacy; motor skills development; numeracy; and social and emotional development. Children explore, discover and make sense of the world around them through these themes. The themes include topics which are familiar to children, allowing them to explore and learn about themselves, their friends and people and places around them.
Dr Intan asked about centralisation of training for preschool teachers. Raising the quality of teaching at preschool centre is something that MOE remains committed to.
ECDA was formed to integrate the Government's approach towards early childhood care and education in Singapore. We have raised the minimum qualifications for kindergarten-level teachers over the years. For existing teachers, ECDA will provide more professional development opportunities as part of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Masterplan launched last year.
We have stepped up efforts to ensure consistency in the quality of such training with the enhancement of the accreditation system and standards that training providers must adhere to. Our immediate priority is to strengthen the Polytechnic training pipeline by increasing intake numbers to meet the increased manpower demands. As these are the more immediate needs, we will focus on them first. We will study the feasibility of centralising pre-service training when manpower demand has stabilised.
Ms Faizah Jamal asked about eco-literacy in our schools. Our children are exposed to eco-literacy throughout their education from pre-school, all the way up to the IHLs. Pre-school children are exposed through the "Discovery of the World" mentioned earlier. In our Primary and Secondary schools, eco-literacy is taught in two ways. It can be infused as part of other subjects, for example, Character and Citizenship Education, Social Studies, Science and Geography. In some schools, it is taught as a distinctive programme with partners, such as the Science Centre Singapore. One such example is Balestier Hill Secondary,
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which has a programme titled "Man and the Environment: Developing 21st Century Competencies through Environmental Education". Many schools also promote environmental education through co-curricular activities or school programmes, for example, Environmental Clubs or school-wide recycling efforts.
Ms Janice Koh asked about using drama as pedagogy. There are many pedagogies that teachers can use in their teaching, including drama. The choice of pedagogy depends on whether the subject lends itself to being taught in a particular way. I would like to assure her that MOE is supportive of this, not just for drama, but for music as well. We have training support in drama through the Programme for Active Learning (PAL); its increased recruitment of art and music teachers; there is a dedicated academy for arts teachers; there is funding for art and music instructor scheme; and an art and music equipment grant for Primary schools.
Also, from 2014, the Singapore Teachers' Academy of the aRts (STAR) will be providing professional learning opportunities for drama teachers through two schemes: the Artist-Mentor Scheme and the Arts Pedagogical Research Fund. Drama teachers will also be able to work with established drama practitioners as mentors to enhance the teaching and learning of drama.
Assoc Prof Eugene Tan asked about efforts to promote the study of Asia. Today, there is already a significant focus on the study of our immediate regional environment in our schools at all levels. It is done through subjects like History and Social Studies.
The history and culture of China, India and Southeast Asian countries and the development of ASEAN are covered in Social Studies for Primary; History and Social Studies for Secondary; and History at pre-University level. In our Polytechnics and ITEs, there are numerous avenues to deepen understanding of Asia. There is China studies, with an attachment in China, or world issues modules. And our Autonomous Universities (AUs) also have undergraduate programmes which give students a better understanding of the region. For example, NUS has an undergraduate programme in Southeast Asian Studies, and offers modules which look at regional politics. MOE also provides support to schools through the Trips for International Experience grant, allowing schools to organise meaningful overseas learning journeys in the region.
Mr Png Eng Huat asked about the tuition grants for international students. The hon Member has raised this topic before in Parliamentary Questions. And
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as the Minister had explained, eight out of 10 start serving the bond promptly, or have been granted approval by MOE to defer their service obligations to pursue further studies. The remaining ones are not necessarily automatically in default – some are overseas for further studies, but omitted to get approval and some are seeking employment. It is not necessary for me to go into details, as the Minister had answered that in the Parliamentary Questions previously. But one thing I can assure Mr Png of is, if it comes to MOE's attention that there is a deliberate default, then enforcement action will be taken.
In response to Assoc Prof Eugene Tan, I would like to assure him that we are investing heavily in promoting scholarship in Singapore and there is no lack of financial support for scholarship projects on Singapore. The amount of funding available is actually in excess of the number of quality projects submitted. I believe his concern is whether or not people will submit such projects. But we are of course happy to encourage the submission of projects with research on Singapore.
Assoc Prof Eugene Tan also asked about the Discretionary Admission Scheme (DAS) to Autonomous Universities (AUs). He felt that 10% was too high. This was actually in response to a call for some flexibility and being autonomous, the AUs are responsible for admissions into their institutions. They are expected, however, to maintain high standards in its admissions process and they are also accountable to their Boards.
Mr Yee Jenn Jong suggested that we could provide our NSmen with greater support for tertiary studies. Our Universities have already been supporting their transition from NS back into their studies at a comfortable pace. At NUS, NTU and SMU, NSmen can choose to undergo a Special Term to take modules one semester earlier. If they complete sufficient modules during the Special Term, these students will be able to graduate a semester early.
NUS is also piloting an online course for NSmen to start their lessons prior to matriculation. Our NSmen also have other options for further education, such as the specialist and advanced diploma programmes offered by our Polytechnics. To the extent that his suggestion was for them to do part time studies in the course of NS, I think it is important that they should, during the course of NS, focus and give all their energies and time to National Service as it is very important. But if there are other things that can be done in the course of NS, then perhaps those suggestions can be referred to MINDEF.
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In conclusion, Mr Chairman, let me say that the efforts that we take are all designed to bring out the best in our children. We want the best for them because Singaporeans have great potential. MOE's task is to make sure that that potential is realised.
Sir, children are all different. They all learn differently. They have different interests, strengths and challenges. I am glad to hear Minister Heng talk about building an open and inclusive system. But we now have a system that still tends to be more curriculum-centric than child-centric. This is often unavoidable because the class size is large. Schools may be varied but, in the classroom, the teacher would typically use one type of teaching pedagogy.
The downside then is that the system is too one-size-fits-all and does not fit the learning styles of many children. As we know, auditory learners would like to talk things through, visual learners would like to write things down or see graphs and charts, and kinaesthetic learners learn best through moving, doing and touching. If teaching methods only cater to one type of student, the learning of other students may get compromised. Some may even be disadvantaged for their entire school-life.
In addition, there seems to be increasingly more children who are diagnosed with a form of learning disability or disorder, like dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sensory integration disorder and so on. The increase in incidence could be because of more testing and better understanding of the various difficulties. Most of these children continue to be in mainstream schools. And quite a few may not do badly, because they have other compensatory factors, like having a higher than average IQ. These students, hence, fly under the radar of the educators. But many of their parents would tell you that they wished the system could cater to their kids better. They know that their kids could do so much better with more child-centric teaching and classroom management that was better tailored for their child.
While there have been great efforts to create different pathways and more school niches, teaching pedagogy can still be too homogeneous. Are we able to evolve our system to cater to differences and to truly achieve inclusiveness?
Can schools develop more inclusive practice and curriculum? This means teaching programmes designed to fit the needs of all children, rather than
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having the children adjusting to the programme. This also means more differentiated teaching in the classroom such that as many children as possible are learning in an optimal way, bringing out the best in every child, as the Minister said just now.
Educators should try to understand children as individual human beings. There should be proper and continuous dialogue between educators and the student so that there is better awareness about the unique personality, identity, strengths and challenges of each child.
Perhaps, schools can have access to roving multi-disciplinary teams, like educational psychologists and therapists, who can train teachers and parents to detect and intervene, both in the school and home settings. Parents with resources can pay for help to enable their kids to cope better. But not many people have this sort of resources.
There could also be better partnership between the teachers and parents. Parents are the first educators of the child. Teachers should dialogue with parents more often as parents often know a lot more about the special circumstances that their child face and may be able to make the teacher aware of important facts about the child, and provide good suggestions on more optimal interventions in the classroom to help that child cope. Educators can be trained to be empathetic and respectful of these parents' needs and challenges. Some teachers are already doing this; but on the whole, I think we can do better.
To be fair, not all schools also have the same approach towards students who are different. Some schools do a better job. For example, some may have more experimental curriculum and a few may even deploy shadow teachers.
But it is still quite common to hear of parents having very contrasting experiences with each of their children in the school system, even if they go to the same school. Same family, same school, but one may thrive and soar, while another would struggle and under-fulfil his or her potential. It can be quite heart-breaking for the parent who knows this but feels helpless to do anything.
So, overall, I hope MOE can clarify its stand on how it expects schools to cater to kids with different needs in mainstream schools.
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Mr Teo Siong Seng (Nominated Member) (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The centrepiece of this year's Budget is on the Pioneer Generation Package, to pay due respect to the seniors for their contributions to nation-building and to look after their needs in their twilight years. This reminds me of a saying of Mencius: "Honour the aged of other families as we honour our own; care for the children of other families as we care for our own." This embodies the traditional Asian core values that Singapore adheres to.
However, in a very business-dominated society, in a rapidly evolving digital age where new media reigns supreme and which is dominated by computer games and fast food, how can we ensure that traditional Asian values can continue their legacy?
Four years ago, I raised the fact that although our students' Chinese examination results are fairly good, the application of the language is on the decline. Listening, conversation, reading and writing fall short of standards required by business. Four years have come and gone, and there is still no improvement. In fact, the disparity has become even more salient. Two years ago, there was even the incident where the students burned their Chinese textbooks after the examinations. I was quite disconcerted and saddened when I found out. Just how much hatred could drive the students to make a bonfire out of their Chinese textbooks? This is not a rare occurrence, but evidently the students do not care for the Chinese language at all.
Chinese education is important for two reasons. First is to fulfil society's needs for talent and second is the responsibility of transmitting morals and values. Last month, I read a piece of news where a Swiss ski resort was specially recruiting Chinese ski instructors to look after their Chinese tourists; the Swiss Tourism Board's official website also provided a Chinese version. Actually, from a few years ago, retailers from many European countries had already started hiring Chinese-speaking service staff.
Whenever I come across such related news, a strong sense of crisis would come over me. How much longer can we preserve the bilingual proficiency we are so proud of? Previously, we used to declare that learning of Chinese language and Mandarin is necessary if we are keen on expanding into China, but some students may feel that they do not need to venture into China and would remain in Singapore where they can speak English. They would not need to learn Chinese. However, the tables have turned. It is no longer a matter of whether we want to go to China. It is because we can no longer avoid having to
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deal with more Mandarin-speaking customers. We have been encouraging Chinese enterprises to use Singapore as an international hub, and to use Singapore as a springboard to the world. China customers have, indeed, flocked to our shores. If we cannot get our students interested in Chinese language and Mandarin, and we cannot groom sufficient Chinese talent, then we may not only lose the China market, but our business at home may be at risk.
In learning any language, the motivation comes from within. In the recent years, Korean dramas have grown very popular in Singapore, and many young people who are infatuated with Korean dramas have gone ahead to learn Korean and travel to Korea. Learning a language relies on frequent usage and frequent practice. The Chamber has a few council members who are English-educated. But after joining the Chamber, and being in an environment where Chinese is being used all the time, they have become increasingly conversant in Mandarin, and even began to read and understand the Chinese council reports. This proves that if there is a desire to learn, coupled with the right environment, the mastery of Chinese language and Mandarin is not difficult.
In this year's Budget, the Government has introduced the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS), which benefits all kindergarten children from anchor operators and MOE Kindergartens. Apart from the funding support, I am even more concerned about what these preschoolers will learn in the kindergartens. How do we help them identify with the Chinese language and Mandarin? What method could be used to inculcate traditional values?
I am very happy to see that the Bilingual Workgroup led by Minister of State Sim Ann has added four other committee members, making it 12 altogether. They come from diverse backgrounds and are talented people from different fields. This has demonstrated that the Government places great emphasis on the grooming of bilingual and bi-cultural talent. I hope the Bilingual Workgroup would explore how to establish a good foundation for the learning of Chinese language and Mandarin in kindergartens, strengthen civic education and transmit cores values. There are all kinds of multi-media teaching methods, and they are all effective tools to stir up children's interest. At the same time, we need to make sure that the teaching materials are localised, so that the children would find it more interesting and appealing. It takes 10 years for a tree to grow, but 100 years to cultivate a learned generation. Some things do not come easily, but as long as we persevere and work indefatigably, we would eventually see results.
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Mr Dhinakaran, you have two cuts. Four minutes in total.
Sir, I will speak in Tamil.
(In Tamil): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Chairman, due to the Government's consistent bilingual education policy, Tamil language continues to be a living language in Singapore. Dedicated Tamil teachers in Primary, Secondary and Junior Colleges teach our students in Tamil language. As a student studies Tamil for 12 years, he becomes proficient in the language.
However, it has been a disadvantage for a long time that Tamil language is not being taught in all the schools during curriculum time. Tamil language centres were set up to overcome this setback.
Today, we have about 13 Tamil language centres throughout the island. About 10% of our Tamil students learn Tamil at these centres. Though these centres give these students the opportunity to learn Tamil language, these centres do, in fact, put them at a disadvantage.
Mr Chairman, we do know that all Secondary schools finish their sessions between 1.30 pm and 2.00 pm. Tamil-speaking students, like all others, learn all their English lessons from morning till afternoon. Tamil-speaking students are not able to attend, like other students, the science and mathematics remedial classes and other ECA activities that are held later in the afternoon, the reason being that they have to travel to the Tamil language centre to attend one of the classes held between 2.45 pm and 6.30pm.
As a result of this arrangement, the overall educational performance of the Tamil students is affected. They are not able to attend the science and mathematics remedial classes which they really need. Unlike other students, they are required to be in the Tamil classrooms until 6.30 pm and that makes them become mentally exhausted.
Therefore, in order to assist as many of these Tamil students as possible, it would be indeed better if Tamil lessons are held in their own schools within their curriculum time. Both the students and parents would not only benefit but would also be happy about this. For historical reasons, the Umar Pular Tamil
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Language Centre could continue to function.
(In English): Sir, I declare my interest as one of the trustees of the SIM University Education Fund and Chairman of SIM University Audit Committee. Mr Chairman, let me continue in Tamil.
(In Tamil): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] To overcome the shortcoming of not having a Tamil Language Department at the National University of Singapore, a BA degree in Tamil Language and Literature was introduced at UniSIM.
This degree programme became a boon to those who only studied Tamil language under the old Tamil medium schools and to those who, for one reason or another, were unable to continue their higher studies and had to work. This particularly was of great help to those Tamil teachers who would otherwise have to travel to Tamil Nadu and spend thousands of dollars to obtain a degree.
Though Tamil teachers form, more or less, the majority in number among those who study at UniSIM, others who are passionate about the language also pursue their studies there. Since this degree course is conducted in collaboration with the Kamaraj Tamil University in Tamil Nadu, its standard is at par with other reputable universities.
Mr Chairman, may I suggest that priority be given to these UniSIM graduates to be employed as Tamil teachers? By doing so, we can avoid the situation of continuing to bring Tamil teachers from Tamil Nadu. In addition, non-graduate teachers, who graduate from UniSIM, should be emplaced on the graduate scale. By doing so, we can raise the standard of Tamil language in Singapore.
Sir, I begin with an update on bilingualism. The learning of our official Mother Tongue Languages (MTLs) remains the cornerstone of our education system. MOE continues to promote bilingualism in schools and works with partners to promote our MTLs in the community. Sir, a few words in Mandarin, please.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I would like to thank Mr Teo Siong Seng for his support for the Bicultural Taskforce. Mr Teo raised the point that we should build a strong foundation for the learning of the Mother
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Tongue Languages from preschool. We fully agree. Studies have shown that helping young children build a strong foundation in listening comprehension and oral communication can enhance their language acquisition abilities. We should help them to embark on the journey of bilingualism as early as possible, and this is why the Ministry of Education places great emphasis on, and fully supports, bilingual education at the preschool level.
Last November, we launched the Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) Framework for Mother Tongue Languages. This framework articulates a broad set of vision, objectives, learning goals and guiding principles that are appropriate for the teaching and learning of all three Mother Tongue Languages. It also taps on research findings on the cognitive benefits of being bilingual, and the greater ease of learning another language before the age of eight. The teaching and learning resources under the NEL Framework are currently being piloted in our MOE Kindergartens for K1 children.
In addition, we established the Lee Kuan Yew Bilingualism Fund in 2011 to further complement the teaching and learning of English and the Mother Tongue Language, particularly in the area of preschool education. So far, the Fund has supported 17 proposals from various corporations, organisations and individuals, to develop more resources set in the local context, and to support events and research.
Furthermore, the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning, which I chair, would be happy to work with the private sector to help increase our students' awareness of the career opportunities that a good grasp of the Chinese language can provide, and to also better understand the linguistic demands of industry. I hope that Mr Teo will give us his full support and encourage companies to work with us.
(In English): Sir, I will now continue in English. As part of our bilingualism policy, MOE provides our students with as high a level of access to official MTL instruction as feasible, and we continue to show strong support for the teaching and learning of the Tamil Language. I do apologise that I am not able to reciprocate Mr Dhinakaran's cut by replying in Tamil. Mr Dhinakaran asked about Tamil Language (TL) provision in our Secondary schools.
At the Secondary level, about 95% of Tamil Language students are able to study the language in their schools during curriculum time. The remaining students attend Tamil lessons outside curriculum time at one of the 12 geographically-distributed MOE Tamil Language centres. We will work with
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schools to ensure that students who travel for their Tamil Language lessons do not miss out on support programmes offered to their peers outside of curriculum time. We will also continue to regularly review the provision of Tamil Language instruction.
Most of our Tamil Language teachers are locally-trained. We assure Mr Dhinakaran that we give due regard to the UniSIM BA degree in Tamil Language, which is one of our key sources of prospective Tamil Language teachers. In fact, MOE actively reaches out to recruit UniSIM BA (TL) graduates who have displayed interest to teach the Tamil Language. Generally, UniSIM BA (TL) degree holders are eligible for placement on the salary scale for graduates.
MOE also works closely with the community to promote the official MTLs in and beyond our schools. As I have mentioned just now briefly in Mandarin, we would be very happy to work with partners, such as the companies, such as our businesses, in exposing our young students to the needs of enterprises in terms of recruiting students with a high command of the Mother Tongue Language.
Sir, another way which we work with the community to support the MTLs is through the Mother Tongue Language Learning Promotion Committees (MTLLPCs). And these committees engage and harness the wisdom of our community stakeholders to organise programmes and activities that develop talent, and spark interest, in our Mother Tongue Languages, beyond classroom learning. An example is the national Malay debate competition (Bahas 4PM), organised by 4PM or the Malay Youth Literary Association and funded by the Malay Language Learning Promotion Committee.
Sir, I hope to have given some assurance to our stakeholders of all three Mother Tongue Languages. MOE is, indeed, very much committed to work together with the community to raise our students' interest in the Mother Tongue Languages.
I will now talk about our commitment to develop an inclusive education system that helps each child to be the best that he or she can be – to achieve success in different ways, at different paces, and in different domains.
Although Mr Laurence Lien did not appear to have been in the Chamber just now when Minister Heng delivered his vision for bringing out the best in every child, it appears that he nevertheless understands the message very clearly, which I am very glad about. Minister Heng talked about bringing out the
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best in every child, in every domain, in every school, at every stage of the learning journey, whatever their starting point.
Our education system indeed over the years, Sir, has not stood still. We have come a long way in our efforts to diversify how we teach and what we teach our students and also in the additional support that we provide students with more specific needs, such as learning needs. Even as we acknowledge that more can be done in various areas, please allow me to take stock of what has been introduced to our education system in a relatively short period of time.
We have different pathways and niche programmes catering to various types of talents and interests. Some take the form of elective programmes, such as for art, language and music. For others, we take a whole-school approach, such as the Singapore Sports School and School of the Arts. All these provide avenues to develop the diverse talents of our students.
The introduction of Applied Learning Programmes and Lifelong Learning Programmes in our Secondary schools also provides more opportunities for our students to excel in niche areas.
To meet specific learning needs of students who need more support, we have set up the Northlight School, Assumption Pathway School, Crest Secondary School and Spectra Secondary School. We have also rolled out levelling up programmes in our Primary schools to build a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy in all our students.
At the school and classroom level, our teachers have been trained to adjust their pedagogy to fit the profile and learning needs of their students and, indeed, we continue to do more each year.
To support low-progress learners better, MOE has established our Educational Support Branch to help teachers identify, adapt and share teaching strategies to cater to the needs of this group of students, including using specific pedagogical strategies that help to build the learners' self-belief and self-esteem.
For students with special needs, since 2005, all teachers learn about basic support for special needs during their pre-service training. On top of that, we have trained more than 3,000 teachers as "Teachers trained in Special Needs" (TSNs), who have a deeper understanding of special needs. We will continue to train even more TSNs, who can share their expertise and support their
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colleagues in school.
Furthermore, we have recruited almost 400 Allied Educators specialising in Learning and Behavioural Support (AED(LBS)) for our Primary and Secondary schools and we will increase those numbers. All Primary schools now have at least one AED(LBS) who provides more specialised support for students with dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and mild autism.
MOE also provides assistive learning devices for students with sensory and physical impairment, and these devices include FM equipment, Braille notebooks, computer systems and more. Our schools are further supported by MOE psychologists who provide consultation and advice to school personnel on identification and support for students with special needs. At the same time, we value our VWO partners who have deep expertise in special needs, and who work with us to provide school-based itinerant support for students with physical and sensory impairment.
We thank the Member for his valuable feedback. I think what he has shared in terms of observations and feedback by parents echoes much of the feedback that we have heard through the Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) sessions organised nationally and also organised by MOE. What we have heard over the months has triggered ideas as well as internal reviews within MOE and we will continue to work to improve our system to support all types of special needs, together with our committed stakeholders.
I have updated on the support that our mainstream schools provide for our students with special needs, as requested by Ms Denise Phua during her cut just now. I hope it is clear, in response to the points made by both Ms Phua as well as Mr Lien, that our system has made significant moves towards supporting students with diverse needs and that our pedagogies have become more varied. We will continue on this journey to bring out the best in every child.
Let me now share more about what we intend to do for students with dyslexia. Students with dyslexia form the largest group of students in our mainstream schools with special education needs. They have a very good chance of catching up if intervention occurs early. This is why MOE has piloted the school-based Dyslexia Remediation (SDR) Programme since 2012.
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The school-based Dyslexia Remediation (SDR) Programme is a two-year specialised intervention programme for Primary 3 and Primary 4 students, conducted in small groups by trained school personnel, including AED(LBS) and TSNs. The remediation curriculum and strategies are designed by MOE reading specialists, and also include a home support component so that parents can play a role in consolidating the support provided by our schools.
One heartening success story of the SDR Programme is Muhammad Firdaus from Yio Chu Kang Primary School. Firdaus used to get upset and cry when he realised that his reading and spelling competencies were not on par with his peers. Thankfully, the SDR programme introduced Firdaus to various intervention strategies. After being on the programme for a year, his Allied Educator, Ms Siti Adliana, noticed that his reading speed increased significantly from 20 to 100 words per minute. Beyond improving his reading and language competencies, the SDR programme boosted Firdaus' self-confidence. Today, the once demoralised boy organises study groups to help and encourage his peers.
Having seen how the programme has helped students to learn to read and grow in confidence, MOE has expanded the SDR programme to another 20 schools this year, bringing the total number of schools with the programme to one-third of our Primary schools. This brings the total number of students benefiting from the programme to close to 1,000.
We are committed to providing more support to our students with dyslexia and aim to roll the programme out to more schools in the near term. At the same time, we need to build the capacity to train, monitor and support school staff who deliver the programme so that the quality of the programme is kept consistently high.
Over the years, more of our students, both those from mainstream schools as well as those from Special Education (SPED) schools, have progressed to our institutes of higher learning (IHLs). Their success in gaining admissions to the IHLs should be celebrated. The next step we are taking is to provide students with special needs with more structured support in their education journey in the IHLs. Some Members, particularly Mr Ang Wei Neng and Ms Denise Phua, have spoken about this at previous COS debates, too. We have heard you.
Ms Denise Phua asked for an update on the setting up of Disability Support Offices in our IHLs and we will give a more comprehensive update today. Before that, I want to thank Ms Phua for her unstinting support for our work in this
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sector. With her advice and support, we have been reaching out to students with special needs in the IHLs, and this has been very helpful in clarifying our thinking and in helping us identify what needs to be done.
Our stakeholders have come together to create the overarching vision for students with special needs in our IHLs, which is: to develop an inclusive community that promotes a culture of openness, understanding and mutual support in our IHLs, so that students with special education needs can have a holistic education experience, attain independent living skills and be equipped to access meaningful employment upon graduation.
As part of this broader IHL vision for special needs support, we have two specific initiatives that will start this year. Through dialogue sessions, we have affirmed our students' and other stakeholders' desire for a one-stop office that provides disability support.
An illustration of how such an office might work is the Learning Accessibility Office (LAO), located within Student Care Centres in the ITE colleges. This is a one-stop office for ITE students with physical, learning and behavioural disabilities to seek advice and assistance. The ITE set-up not only ensures that the students with special needs have a point of contact from admission to graduation, they also provide pre-admission help by ensuring the school report forms of these students are obtained from their Secondary schools to ensure a smooth transition to ITE. This helps to provide special needs support in a more structured, systematic and sustainable manner.
Starting this year, therefore, each publicly-funded University, Polytechnic, ITE college and the arts institutions – in other words, NAFA and LASALLE – will set up a Disability Support Office on campus to provide one-stop support for students with special education needs. They will also set up a disability support website to provide information on the special needs support available in their institutions.
These offices will coordinate training on special needs support for their staff and work with course managers to ensure that necessary adjustments are made for students with special needs so that they are able to access lessons, tests and examinations. Assistive devices, such as FM devices, text-to-speech software; and support services, such as signing interpretation services, are essential to help students with special needs gain equal access to their institutions' programmes so that they can participate fully in and benefit from their school
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experience.
Chia Hong Sen is currently a first-year student in Temasek Polytechnic. Despite his visual impairment, he is able to participate fully in his Diploma in Information Technology course. His notes are provided in softcopy format so that he can access them via the text-to-speech Smart Reader. During the examination period, he is allowed to use a laptop equipped with text-to-speech software so that he can hear the questions and type his answers in. Being a positive and hardworking student, and with the help of assistive devices and support services, Hong Sen has overcome many challenges and adapted well in his Polytechnic.
To benefit more students like Hong Sen, MOE will set up a dedicated Special Education Needs (SEN) Fund for Polytechnic and ITE students with physical or sensory-related impairment. The Disability Support Offices will administer requests for financial support from this new SEN fund. Under this fund, students can receive up to $5,000 to purchase assistive devices to alleviate physical impairment, such as word prediction equipment, voice recognition technology, computer pointing devices and so on. Up to $25,000 per student will be made available for those who require supporting services, such as interpretation in sign language. This means that seamless financial support for assistive technology will be available to students with special needs from the schools through to ITE and the Polytechnics. The Universities and arts institutions are also committed to ensuring that the same support is provided to their students.
In my speech last year, I spoke about the Government's continued commitment in uplifting the quality, accessibility and affordability of our Special Education (SPED) sector and some of the initiatives from the last few years have helped to contribute in raising the quality of education. For example, SPED schools have been able to tap on the $4.5 million Tote Board ICT Fund for innovative infusion of ICT in their teaching. Other initiatives, such as the SPED curriculum framework and the formation of professional learning teams in all schools have helped to uplift the quality of what is taught in SPED schools.
The enhanced Opportunity Fund announced last year has also helped to enrich the learning of SPED students from lower income backgrounds.
Ms Denise Phua has asked the Government to consider having features of the Anchor Operator (AOP) scheme in the special education sector.
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Sir, the AOP scheme was introduced for pre-school operators to provide funding support to eligible operators to scale up the provision of good quality and affordable early childhood care and education services.
As I have mentioned, quality and affordability are also two key areas of focus for MOE's work in the SPED sector. Currently, our 20 VWO-run SPED schools are funded by MOE and NCSS. Our funding to SPED schools has also increased over time. This tripartite partnership between VWOs, MOE and NCSS recognises the VWOs' long history, community links, capability and expertise that allow them to customise their programmes and services to meet the needs of SPED students and to help these students with their post-school transitions.
We continue to work closely together, focusing on the quality and affordability of SPED, and to ensure sufficient capacity in the sector.
Sir, although the AOP scheme was set up in quite a different context from SPED, I find the Member's proposal intriguing, seeing as it is underpinned by her concerns for student outcomes and quality education which MOE shares. We will study the Member's proposal.
Sir, the Government has been doing more to ensure that we continue to be a society that gives hope and assurance to all. The Deputy Prime Minister recently announced transport subsidies to help persons with disabilities gain access to essential services like care, work and education. We are glad that our students with special needs will also benefit. MSF will also provide a fuller report on the related initiatives for persons with disabilities under the Enabling Masterplan 2.
The Government cannot do it all. I wish to thank the community, businesses, our educators and all who have worked hard to build an inclusive society. MOE will continue to work with MSF, NCSS, our VWOs and many other partners to embrace people with special needs as full and integral members of Singapore society.
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