Assessment of Singapore Sports School's Ability to Meet Original Objectives

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether the Singapore Sports School has achieved its desired outcome and managed to attract top-tier athletes; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider (i) lightening the School's academic curriculum to enable its students to focus more on their sports; and (ii) having a through-train integrated programme to a university degree for athletes.

The Singapore Sports School (SSP) has largely succeeded in its aim of combining an excellent sports programme with a quality academic education. Within a decade, the school has produced several Olympians and world champions. At the recent Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar, SSP student-athletes and alumni accounted for almost half of Team Singapore's gold medal haul, or 15 out of 34 gold medals. The school has also done well in supporting the academic needs of its student-athletes. Last year, more than 90% of its "O" level graduates were eligible for places in Junior Colleges, Millenia Institute and the Polytechnics.

Nevertheless, given the increasing level of international competition, the SSP plans to step up its game. Hence, MCCY has announced a strategic review to see how the Sports School can become a national sports academy of excellence and provide talented student-athletes the best environment to train and develop their full potential.

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The review will see how we can better optimise the training and competition schedule of our student-athletes, and still give them a sound academic education so they can progress to Institutes of Higher Learning.

This could mean, for example, a more flexible curriculum for those with the potential to excel at the international level. As it is – and Members would be aware of this – the Sports School has already been piloting a customised academic curriculum which wraps around the student-athlete's training schedule, or what is known as the School-Within-a-School (SWS) programme. The review will examine how we can further enhance this programme, and also explore partnerships with more tertiary institutions, including local and overseas Universities, to extend and expand the range of through-train programmes, as suggested by Er Dr Lee.

We are mindful that the needs of the different sports are different. So, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, the review will consider how the sports and academic programmes can be better customised to each sport. We will also see how the Sports School can partner more effectively with the National Sports Associations (NSA), the Junior Sports Academies which MOE runs, and the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) to attract top-tier student-athletes in each field, and provide them with an attractive pathway to pursue their sporting aspirations.

Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank the Acting Minister for a comprehensive answer. Thank you for mentioning the SWS programme. I would like to ask the Acting Minister two supplementary questions. The curriculum for the SWS programme is still almost the same as any other school. I would like to ask if there is any intention to lighten the curriculum as in many other sports schools in other parts of the world.

The next question is: is there any intention for MCCY to work with MOE to finetune the Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise because I notice that a lot of good table tennis players have been grabbed by a lot of good schools, especially RI and RGS? Is there an intention to specify minimum PSLE score? Because it is quite unfair to other students as well because they take in players without specifying their PSLE scores so long as they are good in games.

On the first question: indeed, the direction of the review is to look at, as I said earlier, how we can customise the curriculum better for talented student-athletes. For that particular group of athletes with the potential, the ability to excel at the international level, and also the commitment

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to do so, our sense at this stage is that we can have a better balance between sports and academics and, in particular, give a bit more weightage to the sports. So, lighten their academic curriculum so that they can focus on their training but we still need to assure them of quality education so that they can progress to the next level. That is the intent.

We are studying other international models and we are looking at what we can do in terms of tying up through-train programmes so that when these student-athletes complete their education with the Sports School, they have assurance of a good education and also assurance to progress to the next level. So, indeed, that is what we are doing for the SWS programme.

On the second question: that merits a completely separate Parliamentary Question (PQ) in its own right. Whether or not we are going to review DSA admissions is something that will also require MOE's inputs. I would not be in a position to answer this today. I know where the Member is coming from in terms of DSA admissions with schools. It is something that MCCY has noted and we will continue to look at this with MOE. If the Member would like to file a separate question, we can address that separately.

Mdm Speaker, one supplementary question for the Acting Minister. Having travelled and trained in a variety of sports institutions around the world, this concept of trying to balance academics and sport is something that Singaporeans hold very dear. It seems to be ethos of the Sports School. Would we ever come to a stage and acknowledge the fact that at the top level of global sport now, it is almost impossible to reach Olympic champions level, trying to balance academics in sport the way that we try to do in Singapore?

That is exactly the motivation behind this particular review: that we recognise that for student-athletes with the ability, the potential to excel at the international level, grappling or balancing the demands of both the academic and sports training based on the current curriculum in the Sports School, may be a bit difficult. That is exactly the motivation behind the review that we are doing.

I would caution going the other extreme which some countries have done, which is to hothouse students from a very early age and focus only on sports training without any education. I think actually it ends up to the detriment of the student especially for the very many who are unable to excel at that level and the attrition rate is significant. Many end up with not very much of a sound

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education to fall back on, and they have difficulties finding a good job and progressing on in their careers.

I note that the balance being asked for in terms of trying to skew a bit more towards sports, but I know parents have also voiced concern that if they send their kids to the non-sports schools, for example, would they get disadvantaged. Would MCCY take into consideration the principle that kids should also have a choice?

Firstly, the parents and the students have a choice. We would have a diversity of options for them to choose from, whether or not they want to do more and focus more intensively in sports training, or they want a more balanced approach. Secondly, I would say even for the Sports School, as we do this curriculum, we are also mindful of thinking about how the Sports School can extend beyond what it is doing with its own students and reach out to students from other schools who have the potential to excel and to be part of the Juniors National Team or to be part of the National Team, to see how that training can extend to them. In that sense, while the review is for the Sports School, we are also looking beyond the Sports School.

Madam, while I welcome the partnership between NSAs and the Singapore Sports School, I hope the Acting Minister can give the assurance that for athletes who choose not to go to the Sports School, the National Sports Associations will not discriminate against them. If we go on the basis that "Oh, you can't train so many hours", I think that is very unfair. We should look at the performance and I think that is all that matters because after all, we are a meritocratic society.

Again, we are deviating quite a bit from the original question of what the Sports School review is supposed to be. This is a matter of selection of athletes which is the purview of National Sports Associations (NSAs) and the SNOC, and these are people-based organisations. But I agree with the Member's observation and comment that it all has to be based on merit.