Expanding Learning Support Programmes to Include all Primary School Subjects and Levels

Ms Hany Soh asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the current learning support programmes sufficiently support students with greater learning needs; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider expanding the learning support programmes to include all primary school subjects and levels.

For students with greater learning needs in primary school, learning support programmes are provided to strengthen their foundation in literacy and numeracy. These programmes include the Learning Support Programme and the Learning Support for Mathematics (LSM) Programme from Primary 1, the Reading Remediation Programme (RRP) for English and the Mother Tongue Support Programme from Primary 3.

To enhance learning support for students who do not meet the milestone learning outcomes at the end of Primary 2, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has extended LSM to Primary 3 and 4 students since 2023. MOE has also enhanced the RRP at Primary 3 and 4 and extended it to Primary 5 students this year.

At Primary 5 and 6, students who cope better with a less demanding curriculum can offer subjects at the Foundation level.

On top of these, schools and teachers also provide targeted support for students in any subject as and when needed.

Our academically weaker students had generally performed better than their international peers in English, Mathematics and Science in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD)'s international benchmarking studies. This suggests that the dedicated and customised support has been effective for many of these students. We will continue to review and refine our learning support programmes as necessary.