Debated in Parliament on 16 Oct 2012.
The following question stood in the name of Mr Zainudin Nordin –
To ask the Minister for Education (a) how many ITE students are currently receiving financial assistance; (b) beyond the financial assistance, how are these students assisted to ensure that they continue to remain in their course of study; and (c) whether these students who come from humble backgrounds are faced with challenges to participate in local and overseas enrichment programmes that are offered for their holistic development.
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Mr Speaker, Question No 12, please.
Sir, in Academic Year 2011, about 11,800 or half of the students at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) received financial assistance in the form of bursaries. ITE also provides academic and career counselling for students to help them complete their course of study.
Additional financial assistance is provided to ITE students who participate in enrichment programmes. For local enrichment programmes, ITE taps on Edusave grants to defray programme costs for all ITE students. For overseas enrichment programmes, ITE students from low-income households can tap on the Opportunity Fund and the Khoo Teck Puat International Opportunity Programme Fund to help cover the cost of their participation. About 1,600 students benefited from the Opportunity Fund as well as the Khoo Teck Puat International Opportunity Programme Fund in 2011.
Sir, I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for his clarification and answer. One of the issues of ITE students is that those who come from low-income families typically have this issue of having to work to supplement their family income, and that is what we also found speaking to teachers. This distracts them from pursuing their education effectively.
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So, my question is, is the Ministry studying this trend and what can be done to enable them to focus on their studies by providing adequate financial help for them and their families. How can the schools also involve parents in terms of getting the parents on board, because parents from this segment of society may not necessarily see the same importance as they are concerned about bread and butter issues? Lastly, how can we get more from the people sector and the charities sector on board to help in this space?
Sir, I believe ITE is already involving parents to ensure that the students enjoy and complete their courses. The second point about ITE students who are working: some students work because they want to supplement their family income, some want to finance their own education. However, as I said earlier, 50% of ITE students are already receiving assistance in the form of bursaries. If they tap on these bursaries, they would be able to cover the course fees. That would be sufficient. There is a bigger issue here as to whether the family is able to get greater financial assistance than just to pay the fees. The parents would have to work with other agencies to resolve this, but ITE is already helping our students to complete the course by also working with voluntary organisations. The ITE network is already working with at least two organisations. One of them is the Malay Youth Literary Association (4PM), which tries to motivate the students of ITE who are on the verge of dropping out, or who are most vulnerable. I understand that the success rate is very, very good. The other organisation is MENDAKI, which provides counselling and mentorship to students. The 4PM programme, at least, is open to students from all races.
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