Aline K. Wong
Singapore
“The ENABLE (Encouraging Achievement and Better Learning) programme gives additional support to those who are not achieving their potential. Our curriculum has given more emphasis to critical and creative thinking skills.”
“Can I just take one more second on the waiting list because Mr Ahmad Magad mentioned that the waiting list is long? There are 18 SPED schools now which cater to about 4,000 children. Of the 18 SPED schools, eight have waiting lists.”
“Sir, I am sure the Member in his meet-the-people sessions has also encountered cases where some families pleaded for priority to be admitted on grounds of, say, the child's sickness, or that the mother is working and is unable to bring the child to school, or that the grandparent cannot manage to take care of so many grandchildren.”
“I think he did not hear what I say. For both of these families, someone who lives within one kilometre or next door and someone who lives right on the border of this one kilometre, or of any delineation you choose to draw, my point is that for both of them, this is their nearest school.”
“Principals, as part of their duties, are always alert to what is happening in the school. They have also been given guidelines, in the Principals' Handbook, on discipline and the code of conduct which is expected of the teachers and staff members. But having said that, all these things are not foolproof.”
“It will continue to stagger the rental increase to market levels for assignment of tenancies, subletting cases and for tenants who are renewing their tenancies for the third time. Shop lessees can also apply to convert to shorter leases to reduce the cost of servicing their mortgage loans.”
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“This is the first time that we are exercising this Act which requires compulsory voting. During the exercise in October, out of a total of 4,866 doctors eligible to vote, 90.2% turned up to vote. The majority of the 477 doctors who did not turn up to vote were overseas. There were also some doctors on medical leave. Therefore, so far, nobody has been struck off the register. TEST RUN OF ELECTRONIC ROAD PRICING SYSTEM (Compensation to motorists charged accidentally) 3. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Communications whether the Government has compensated those motorists who were charged accidentally in the test run of the Electronic Road Pricing System on 28th August 1998. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications (Dr Yaacob Ibrahim) (for the Minister for Communications): Sir, all of the 1,562 motorists, who were accidentally charged during the test run of the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries on 28th August 1998 have been sent a $10 CashCard.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not see the relevance of this to the question asked by Dr Lily Neo.”
“My answer is yes, of course, we have attempted to find out.”
“Many of the doctors who failed to vote, when voting was not compulsory in the past, did so because they did not bother to.”
“As I said, this is really an incentive for people to come and vote. So if the livelihood is so important to them, by all means pay the penalty if you cannot vote.”
“The linking of compulsory voting with the practising certificate is not limited to the medical profession alone. Even in health matters, for self-employed people, they are required to pay Medisave. If they do not pay up, then the renewal of their business licences could also be held up. So this rule is not peculiar to the medical profession.”
“Is it equitable? As I said, doctors in the past had felt that they needed to be represented adequately on the Medical Council and therefore they valued the vote. But the trouble is, in the past, when voting was not made compulsory, only 10% to 15% of them ever turned up to vote. In the end, they felt that the number of members elected did not represent them. So it is a chicken and egg question. So, we say, if you value the vote, you should all turn up to vote. And the way to make you come to vote is to tie that up with some penalty which is heavy enough that you feel there is a pinch. But the money is not the question. I must clarify that when a doctor fails to vote, his practising right is not revoked there and then. It is only when he renews his practising certificate, he may not be given the permission. So he can pay up the penalty.”
“I think the monetary penalty is not the point. The point is that doctors should take the responsibility to vote. If you say the $500 is too severe or too heavy, then I would have to ask you: what would be a sufficient amount of fine in order to ensure doctors would vote?”
“As I have explained to the Member, if a doctor did not vote, but he had a valid reason for not voting, he would not be subject to a penalty. If he did not have a valid reason, but he paid the fine of $500, then no further action would be taken against him. In my view, I think this is very reasonable. As I said, the doctors are responsible professionals. I think most of them would want to exercise the right to vote.”
“Sir, a very short response to Dr Michael Lim's concern about the quality of care in our Government polyclinics and the issue of clinical audit. Actually, oOver the years, many measures have been introduced to ensure quality care to patients in our polyclinics. We have developed standardised clinical protocols for use in the polyclinics for the management of patients with different conditions including diabetes and hypertension. Since 1994, we have established an annual audit programme for different medical conditions, including the common chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. These audit procedures are drawn up with reference to international guidelines. Since 1994, we have had clinical audit.”
“They are not necessarily convinced and during school holidays, they feed them with all kinds of junk food. As a result, children will come back to school gaining weight again. So we are trying to educate the parents also. The SHS is able to do all these programmes and keep our school children healthy at a budget of $11 million per year through careful planning and efficient scheduling of activities. In health care, more spending does not necessarily equal to better care or better outcome. In fact, I think for $22 per pupil, we have done so many marvellous things. We will continue to maximise our resources and study ways of providing a high standard of preventive health care for our students. We may also consider extending such health promoting activities to the pre-school age group because some of the health problems like myopia and obesity also affect them.”
“The school health teams work with the schools in health promoting activities, such as the school environment, canteen or tuckshop and also on parent education. For some years now, MOH has also assisted the Ministry of Education to incorporate health education into the school curriculum. Sir, our students are generally healthy. The school health programme has greatly contributed to this happy state of affairs. However, among our school children, myopia and obesity are still common health problems. In fact, in 1997, about 48% of the students have shortsightedness and 12% of the students are assessed to be overweight. What do we do about this? We educate the students, the parents, the teachers and the public on these two health problems. Our strategy for control is to prevent, detect and also correct the problems at the early stage. For myopia, MOH has set up a Vision Care Committee and this Committee has drawn up guidelines on measures that can be taken by various organisations to prevent myopia. And based on this Committee's guidelines, MOE has embarked on a programme to ensure better lighting in the classrooms. All primary schools have also introduced the eye relaxation programme and this is being extended to the secondary schools as well. As for obesity, MOE, as you may be aware, has for a number of years implemented the Trim and Fit scheme which emphasises physical activities and proper nutrition. Within the school health service itself, we have now a Nutrition Clinic which runs a structured obesity management programme for students who are moderately or severely overweight. We also plan to conduct an education programme for parents of moderately and severely obese children because, very often, the parents themselves pamper their children.”
“In addition, Primary 1 students also undergo hearing tests. Primary 4 students are given a spinal screening in order to exclude a curved spine and students at all the levels are given an annual vision test. These medical examinations and screenings are given at important stages of the child's development. It is not necessary to give a full medical screening every year. This is the opinion of the medical profession. Students who are identified with health problems are referred to the Student Health Centre for further assessment and follow-up management. At the Student Health Centre, there are clinics for students with nutrition and weight problems, eye and hearing problems, growth and development and adolescent problems as well as heart and spine conditions. Visiting specialists to the SHS will attend to the more complex cases. If students still require further assessment and management by specialists, they are referred to the appropriate hospital department. After the health screening, feedback is given to the schools. So if there are certain students in the school who require special attention or exemption from some school activities, such as PE, then the principal would be notified. Immunisation. The school health teams visiting the schools administer immunisations against the major communicable diseases including diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella and tuberculosis, according to the Childhood Immunisation Schedule. About 95% of the students are covered. Health promotion and education. The School Health Service also carries out a lot of health education activities on leading a healthy lifestyle, on eye care, personal hygiene and other topics.”
“I would like to thank Mr Bernard Chen, Mr Ibrahim Othman and Mr Choo Wee Khiang for their interest in the school health programme. As Mr Bernard Chen said, this part of the work of the MOH is not very well known. In fact, thisits work has been very much taken for granted. The school health programme is one of the strategies to achieve our Ministry's mission to promote good health and reduce illness. The health promotion and preventive health programmes reach out to children when they are young and they help to lay a firm foundation for good health. This would bring long-term benefits to the population. MOH will continue to place great emphasis on such programmes. The School Health Service (SHS) reaches out to about half a million students in our primary and secondary schools, junior colleges, Institutes of Technical Education and Sspecial Sschools. Mr Ibrahim Othman asked whether the School Health Service covers the junior colleges and ITE. My answer is yes. They are already included in our programme. The SHS provides three major types of health programmes for the students: health screening and follow-up care, immunisation, and health promotion and education. These programmes are conducted in the schools by visiting school health teams and are also provided at the Student Health Centre at the Institute of Health. Health screening. A full medical examination is given to our students at Primary 1, Primary 6 and Secondary 4, as noted by Mr Ibrahim Othman also. They are given to students at these levels by doctors and nurses who assess their nutritional status, that is, to see whether they are overweight or underweight, to see whether they are growing and developing at the appropriate pace, to check on their eyesight and on any other health problems.”
“Within the Ministry, each programme has to be considered for its own funding and for primary health care, we have been giving it the kind of resources that we require. SALE OF SHOPS IN YUHUA 13. Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for National Development when the Housing and Development Board will sell more shops in the Yuhua ward of the Bukit Timah GRC. Mr Koo Tsai Kee (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Housing and Development Board has taken note of the keen interest of the shop tenants to buy their shops, and will take this into consideration when selecting shops for future sales. KEPPEL CORPORATION LTD (Action against directors for giving bribe) 14. Mr J B Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Law whether any action will be taken against any of the directors of Keppel Corporation Ltd for the bribe given to Mr Cornelius van der Horst and for which the company was fined and, if not, why not. The Minister of State for Law (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Minister for Law): Sir, the Public Prosecutor has the discretion to decide whether he will prosecute in any particular case. The Public Prosecutor decides on these matters based on the law, the facts of the case, the reports of the investigating agency, the available evidence and the public interests involved. In this particular case, the Public Prosecutor decided that the company should be prosecuted, not the employees who gave the bribes. He did so after considering all the facts of the case, including the fact that they did not act for their own personal gain.”
“If it had been possible, we would have done it. But our policy is to implement small but regular revisions in our fees in order to catch up with the rise in cost. Costs have risen across the board. So this is to catch up with the rise in costs as well as to reach closer to our cost recovery targets.”
“As far as the health care profession is concerned, MOH has been continuously revising its salary scales. As far as social workers are concerned, I am afraid the Member has to ask the Minister for Community Development. 1.30 pm”
“In the planning for higher level manpower, one has to take into consideration the overall picture, eg, the proportion of tertiary educated people in our workforce and how they should be distributed among the different professions. This is something that we can certainly look at in the long run, ie, how to increase the proportion of people who are in the caring professions. I must stress again that no amount of education planning can force people to take a certain profession. There is a whole host of factors being taken into consideration by the students and parents. So it depends on whether over the years our society changes its attitude towards the position, the status and the worth of the work of the caring professions. Then we have to change and adapt accordingly.”
“Yes, indeed at the polytechnic level, about five years ago, at the Nanyang Polytechnic we set up a School of Health Sciences in the areas of nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiography and so on. This programme has met with substantial success and we were able to attract quite a large number of people into nursing. But this was after quite a lot of efforts on the part of the professional associations and the polytechnic. So now we are having a steady stream of polytechnic students doing these allied health courses. For the Member's information, in July 1997, the Nanyang Polytechnic also introduced a 3-year full-time diploma course in Community Services Management. This has attracted 44 students. The course aims to train students to operate community-based organisations and also work in other types of organisations with a humanistic orientation in society. The expected career paths of these diploma holders include youth development officers, probation officers, social development officers and rehabilitation officers. In this way, through curriculum planning and expansion of courses, we are making it more accessible and more recognised among the school population to choose the caring professions as a career.”
“Mdm Chiang has rightly pointed out that developing the "heartware" of Singapore should begin with our young people. Education is fundamentally about developing the whole person. An educated person, in addition to acquiring skills and knowledge, should be morally upright, socially adept, and responsible to his family, community and country. Imparting values and inculcating social responsibility are integral components of the education process. As the Member knows, we have recently introduced the Community Involvement Programme in our schools. This programme was introduced earlier this year to drive home the point that caring for the less privileged in society is the responsibility of every Singaporean, not just of those with a special calling. This complements existing community service efforts by schools and tertiary institutions, like the fund-raising projects and blood donation drives which these institutions regularly do. However, choosing a profession is a matter of individual choice. Education policies cannot dictate what professions our students eventually choose. Choices are influenced by a variety of factors, including perception of monetary and non-monetary rewards, inclinations of the individuals and, in particular, a person's aptitudes and values. By providing sound moral education, as we do in our schools, we may encourage more of our young to consider the caring professions. There is much that education can do to shape the values of the society. But what we can do in the schools and tertiary institutions must be reinforced by the home and society at large. It is a shared responsibility to encourage people to go into the caring professions.”
“It is a question of whether we have the teaching resources as well as the demand which is present in our society. CARING PROFESSION 9. Mdm Claire Chiang See Ngoh asked the Minister for Education, in our new focus on the heartware of Singapore, what national policies can be developed at the junior college, polytechnic and university levels to attract young Singaporeans into the caring profession to meet staffing needs at various social services.”
“We could consider the Member's suggestion and look into it at a later stage. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (Jalan Besar): In view of the interest in South Asian Studies and the diversity of cultures and languages, is there any plan to expand the language module to include other languages like Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali?”
“If this is the case, then it will have to be at the expense of the academic subjects in politics, economics, political science and so on. At this stage, we are thinking of a programme which meets the academic content of a university programme.”
“The main purpose of this South Asian Studies Programme is not to train teachers to teach Tamil language in primary or secondary schools. Yes, we do have a shortage of these language teachers in our schools right now. We have been supplementing our local supply from overseas. But the main purpose of this programme is to provide an opportunity for people who want to do South Asian Studies at the university level. That is why the Tamil language modules are optional. They are not required.”
“As the Member mentioned, it is feasible but I am not sure how difficult it is to store blood beyond a certain period of time. It is difficult and the demand is not there. Even the experiences of autologous blood banks in other countries have shown that many of them have closed their services. LOAN TO INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT 5. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Finance what actions can Singapore pursue should the Indonesian government default in repayment of the loan which Singapore extended to them.”
“The two cases of tainted blood are through voluntary donor donation. But as I said, the service for autologous blood donation has always been there. If people are very concerned about this, they can still demand or request for these services at present.”
“As I said, the services for autologous blood donation have been there for some years and they are available at many public and private hospitals. We are taking steps to encourage patients and the doctors in hospitals to consider this alternative. We will see what is the pattern of demand.”
“It is up to the private sector to set up such a service or bank if there is a demand and market for it. I understand that, in the past, there was a private autologous blood bank but, unfortunately, the demand was not there and so about a year ago, it closed the services.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it is not immediately clear from the question raised by the Member that she is referring to this type of long-term storage of blood. For persons who have need for this type of storage beyond the common storage period of five weeks, this service is available at the blood centre. However, based on past demand, this service has not really been popular. As I said, the present services are adequate to meet the demand. We will monitor the situation.”
“The new nomenclature proposed - Director-General of Education - will reflect better the broader and heavier responsibilities that he has to shoulder, as well as give recognition to his relative seniority in relation to the other Directors in the Ministry Headquarters. I therefore ask the House to support the amendment to the Education Act to re-designate the leader of the Education profession as the Director-General of Education. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“We will give them more authority to decide on the allocation of resources, and will hold them accountable for achieving the desired objectives. The principals and school cluster heads are answerable to the Director-General of Education for delivering the educational outcomes. The Director-General of Education will be responsible for defining the overall education strategies and managing the resources required for our goal of providing high quality education for all Singaporeans. The Director-General of Education will take ultimate responsibility for the educational outcomes achieved by our education system as a whole. In line with this, more of the decision making authority for the allocation and use of human and financial resources, currently under various other divisions within the Ministry, will be put under the Director-General of Education together with the professional staff branches such as curriculum planning and development, research and testing and educational technology which already report to the Director-General of Education. Giving the Director-General of Education more decision-making authority over the allocation of funds and manpower resources will enable him to provide more responsive and effective support to the schools. We will also want to move to a structure where the Director-General of Education will have a greater say in the advancement and career development of Education officers. This would include the identification, professional development and appointment of strong leaders to run our "Thinking Schools". As the top professional in the Education Service, the Director-General of Education will set the tone and professional ethos of the service, and play a bigger role in charting out its future direction and shape.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Members of the House would remember that during the recent Budget Debate in this House, the Minister for Education outlined the Ministry's vision for "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" to prepare the next generation of Singaporeans. The key to achieving this mission is a strong and forward looking Education Service: a body of professionals dedicated to the education of our younger generation, responsive to change and headed by able and good leaders. The Director-General of Education stands at the apex of this body of professionals. This change in designation from the Director of Education to the Director-General of Education reflects the broader and heavier responsibilities he will have to shoulder as we restructure the Education Service and the way that we manage our schools. The "Thinking Schools" of the future must have principals and teachers who will manage the process of continuous learning and change in their schools in line with our changing economic, social and technological environment. While the Ministry will continue to provide the vision for education and lay down the broad guidelines for achieving this, the principals and teachers, on their part, must be able to tailor their own solutions to their students' and the schools' particular needs to bring out the best in their students. As new programmes are introduced, they will have to decide how best to integrate them into their schools. To achieve this, the Ministry intends to devolve more autonomy to our schools. We will restructure the way our schools are managed to give more authority to principals and school cluster heads to design and use the most appropriate education strategies.”
“PSC scholarships are for people who do very well academically and want to take up nursing as a career. The number of scholarships also depends on how many are willing to take them up. But in general, Dr Toh's concern, I believe, is about raising the professional status and prestige of the nurses. There are other ways. For nurses to take up degree training, we have to consider whether they have the ability as well as the readiness to take up greater responsibility in the post. So the nursing degree is not really for everyone. LIBERALISATION OF BUS SERVICES The following Question stood in the name of Mr R. Sinnakaruppan - 6. To ask the Minister for Communications if he will consider liberalising the bus services to allow private companies and co-operatives to compete with and complement the services provided by the Singapore Bus Service (1978) Ltd and the Trans-Island Bus Services Ltd. FEEDER BUS SERVICES IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOUSING ESTATES 7. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Minister for Communications whether he will allow Scheme B buses, school buses and other groups to operate feeder bus services in both public and private housing estates.”
“The degree course for nursing at Sydney is not normally open to sponsorship, unless private institutions or restructured hospitals want to sponsor the students this way. This is because the course is already available locally at SIM. But I think he is talking more about PSC scholarships. These are offered only to people who qualify for them. Students can apply but the PSC will select.”
“Mr Choo Wee Khiang (Jalan Besar): I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State how readily available are these sponsorships for Singaporeans who are interested to pursue a nursing degree in Sydney. Does she have any statistics?”
“At present, there is no full-time local degree programme for nursing. But there is a 2-year, part-time Bachelor of Nursing degree programme offered by the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) which was introduced in September 1994. Nurses who have acquired the Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) Diploma in Nursing can proceed to the degree programme either locally at the SIM or at the University of Sydney itself. Nurses can apply for sponsorship from their employer, be it the Ministry of Health, the restructured hospitals or private hospitals, to enrol in this programme. We will continue to sponsor nurses who show the ability and aptitude for greater responsibility to participate in the programme. The degree programme at SIM has managed to take in, on average, about 140 students per year in the last three years. The first year's intake has already completed their programme. This programme will provide us with a steady supply of graduate nurses to meet our requirements in the immediate future. We will monitor the demand for the degree programme by the healthcare institutions and by the nurses. This will help us gauge whether there is a need for a full-time local degree programme. My Ministry is also aware that there are good `A' level students who wish to take up nursing as a career. For these young people, PSC offers scholarships tenable in the UK and Australia. Thus far, 28 nursing scholars have returned and are working in MOH and the restructured hospitals. Another four PSC scholars are still pursuing their degree. A small number of World Health Organisation scholarships are also available.”
“The Group Senior Principal will be given the autonomy to deploy staff within the group of schools and to pool the resources to develop the programmes for the benefit of the students. So we will see how this pilot project goes. Finally, Mr Sin Boon Ann asked for more student visits to countries, especially around the region. I would like to inform him that the Ministry of Education has been doing that for many years. We have been encouraging our students to visit our neighbouring countries in order to broaden their horizon and to appreciate these countries' culture and way of life. For example, last year alone, about 28,000 students have gone to visit other ASEAN countries and for the first half of this year, about 11,000 have already done so. They go mostly to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. These are guided or supervised by the teachers. The schools organise these visits and students can use the Edusave grant for part subsidy of these trips. So we are trying to involve students in such visits to broaden their horizon and go beyond their textbook knowledge.”
“I do not think I can add more to the eloquent tribute that Mr Lim Swee Say gave to our teachers. I agree with him entirely that we should give teachers our due respect and appreciation. Very often, it seems the public is too ready to say negative things about them, whereas in fact our teachers deserve every appreciation from all of us for their hard work and dedication. In fact, last year, the National Institute of Education together with Esso has instituted an award, "The Most Caring Teachers Award". I happened to be the Guest-of-Honour for this inaugural ceremony and I think it is an excellent idea to pay tribute to our caring teachers. As to whether we should carry out occasional surveys on teachers' attitudes and their feelings about the programmes that we initiated, we do have that kind of survey. We regularly have dialogue sessions with them and talk to them about their workload, concerns and problems. Mr Loh Meng See asked, beyond monetary incentives, what kind of recognition do we give to teachers. The Ministry of Education places a great deal of emphasis on the professional development of teachers. In fact, we have drawn up a professional development plan which maps out the milestones in the career of a teacher. We devise training programmes to help each teacher to develop professionally, say, in becoming a Head of Department, a Subject Head, a Level Head, and then on to Vice-Principal and Principal, and so on. So we help them along in their professional development. As for cluster schools, whether it would be given the flexibility to recruit and deploy teachers, yes, it is part of the idea of a cluster. But at the moment it is still very much in the pilot stage. There are only two clusters which have been formed. We are trying out the idea.”
“The Government will increase its share of funding and this would reduce the burden on NCSS.”
“The change in the formula is that, within the present cap of four times, the Government's share of the cost would be bigger than before.”
“The preliminary outline of the plan has already been announced by the Minister for Education last Saturday. The plan is for the pupils to be involved in community work. For young pupils, this may mean school-based activities. For the older pupils, these activities will expand to the neighbourhood and to the community at large. I think we will work out the details of this community involvement programme. Yes, every secondary and JC pupil is expected to give about six hours per annum to community service, but in what form, I think we could leave this very much to discussion and to the initiative of the local community, in which case I think the grassroots leaders can very well come up with ideas on how to link up with the schools.”
“Let me come very briefly to the question of community relations and how schools and children should be more involved in the community, as raised by Dr Tan Boon Wan and also by Mr Loh Meng See yesterday in his very first speech. My Ministry strongly encourages parents, grassroots leaders and private enterprises to be involved in schools. As Dr Tan Boon Wan rightly pointed out, some schools have very strong PTA associations, or parents' support groups. Examples include St. Andrew's Secondary School, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls' School, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), St. Michael's Primary School. These parents' support groups are able to work very closely with the schools to help them implement initiatives, national programmes and so on. Some of them could be alumni while some of them are just concerned parents. At the same time, grassroots leaders are involved, as Dr Tan Boon Wan rightly observed in the School Advisory Committees and School Management Committees. But I am not very sure whether the RCs are the right institutions to get the parents organised - parents whose children are going to the neighbourhood schools. An RC zone is very much smaller than the catchment zone of a school. In some rare cases, of course, an RC may be very near to a group of schools, primary and secondary. But I am not very sure RCs would be the right institution to help parents in giving support to the schools. But there are RC members and other grassroots leaders who sit on School Advisory Committees and School Management Committees. What we have in mind to involve students and the community in a closer relationship is in conjunction with the promotion of National Education, where we would like to see the students taking on community involvement at all levels.”
“Finally, I would like to inform the House that starting from last year, the Ministry has been providing some support to dyslexic children in mainstream schools. We have collaborated with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) in giving remediation to these children in the DAS study centres. We have helped DAS set up a learning centre in the eastern zone and will be assisting it to expand its Clementi Learning Centre to meet demand in the west as well as help them to set up a new centre in the north. At the same time, we will be training some teachers to provide help to mildly dyslexic pupils who do not need the specialised remediation in the DAS centres. To assist autistic children studying in our mainstream schools, the Ministry is at present working with a voluntary parent group to provide them support along a similar line as the DAS. It is not possible to require every teacher in our school to have the specialised knowledge to deal with disabled children. Yes, they do attend a module in the NIE on how to assist, but this is not professional training. They would only be sensitised to the needs of the special children. If they find that they cannot handle them and cannot really give enough assistance to them, their job is to refer the children with disabilities to those who are specially trained for the purpose. Mr Hawazi and Mr Iswaran also mentioned that parents should be drawn in to give support to the education of special children. I think this is entirely correct. Parents have indeed played a very important role in giving support to the special schools and special children. And let me repeat, education for the disabled children should rightly be a shared responsibility between the community, the Government and the parents.”
“I would like to point out that children who are disabled need special attention. In fact, if they go to SPED schools, they will have specialised attention of customised programmes and specially trained teachers for their benefit. Thus, integrating a child who is disabled into a mainstream school may not necessarily be beneficial to him. Much depends on the case. In the mainstream school, a not very high-functioning disabled child may have difficulty in coping with the pace of learning as well as the curriculum which is much more academically oriented and the teacher may not be able to give him the due attention that he needs. However, as I said, children with disabilities who are able to follow the mainstream curriculum do have the opportunity to pursue their education in mainstream schools. There are physically disabled children who go to schools which are equipped with special facilities for their movement. There are also sensory-impaired pupils, such as the hearing-impaired and the visually handicapped, in mainstream schools. Many of them join the mainstream secondary schools after completing their primary school in the SPED schools. I must pay tribute to those schools who accommodate the disabled children in their midst. I do not think it is possible for schools to say that they would not want to accept disabled children because they may drag down their schools' ranking. I think that would be morally wrong, and not in keeping with the spirit of professionalism. In the mainstream schools, the pupils attend regular classes and follow the same curriculum. MOE gives special resource teachers to designated schools to help them, and we have plans to train more and deploy more resource teachers to these schools to help the children who are integrated in the mainstream.”
“Today, our SPED schools provide specially-designed educational programmes for the different disability groups of children to meet their individual needs and to enable them to integrate well into society. They are taught basic literacy and numeracy as well as self-help skills to enable them to live independently. As Mr Hawazi points out, the important thing is also to help the children to be as independent as possible. Children with disabilities in SPED schools also have the opportunity for vocational training. The Vocational School for the Handicapped is fully funded by the Government, and it provides training up to a certificate of vocational proficiency. Earlier this year, my Ministry approved the setting up of an additional school run by the Association for the Educationally Subnormal Children (AESN) to cater to ESN pupils between the ages of 16 and 18 in pre-vocational training. Prior to this, ESN children had to leave school by the age of 16. Now they can go on to what they call the senior school for ages 16 to 18. This programme helps the pupils to acquire work skills and assist them in securing and retaining a job. Basic pre-vocational training is also provided by the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore, or the MINDS schools, for the 16 to 18 years old. In addition, the VWOs run a number of training centres and sheltered workshops for children who graduate from SPED schools. I would therefore like to assure Members that there are provisions for vocational training and assistance for them to get a job. As for integration in the mainstream schools, I think Mr Iswaran himself is of the view that some children can benefit from integration, but not every child can benefit from integration in mainstream education.”
“In 1996, the Government extended the Edusave Scheme to children in the SPED schools. Eligible pupils get an Edusave Account and receive a yearly contribution from the Edusave Endowment Fund. For 1997, the contribution is $160 per child. In addition, SPED schools also receive an annual Edusave Grant at $50 per pupil, the same as the mainstream primary schools. This is to enable the schools to conduct enrichment programmes and purchase additional equipment and resource materials for these children. This is a significant step taken by the Government to recognise that a child in a SPED school is eligible for similar benefits from the Edusave Endowment Fund given to a child in the mainstream school. 2.15 pm Sir, to enable the SPED schools to do more for the children who are disabled, I am pleased to announce that my Ministry, with effect from FY 1997, will raise its subsidy for special education according to a new formula, subject to the current cap of four times the cost of primary education. MOE will fund the SPED schools the normal cost of primary education and share the funding of additional costs with NCSS at 50:50. Thus, at a cap of four times the cost of primary education, the Ministry of Education will fund up to one plus 1.5 times, while NCSS will fund the remaining 1.5 times. With this new funding formula, the Government's maximum share of funding is increased by 25%, that is, from a share of 50% to 62.5%. For FY97, the increase in Government's share translates into an additional $700,000 subsidy, and MOE's total grant to SPED schools will be $15.5 million this year.”
“My Ministry together with the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) has been providing a capitation grant for recurrent expenditure to the SPED schools up to a cap of four times the cost of primary education. The Government funding is on a 50:50 sharing basis with NCSS, and we have been increasing this funding. The Government funding has increased from $4.4 million in FY89 to $14.2 million for FY96. Besides this capitation grant for recurrent expenditure, the Government also provides capital funding for the construction and renovation of buildings for the SPED schools. The capital funding which started on a 50:50 basis between the Government and the voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) in 1989 was increased in 1991 to a 80:20 basis where the Government provides the major proportion and the voluntary welfare organisations come out with 20%. In 1996, the Government's share again increased to 90:10 with Government bearing 90% of the funding. To provide better facilities as well as to cater to the demand for places in the SPED schools, the Government has supported the building of purpose-built schools. In-principle approval has to-date been given for six purpose-built SPED schools to be built. Two of them are already under construction and more are in the pipeline. With the completion of these new projects which could be replacement schools or new schools, we would be able to provide enough places for children who require SPED education, not just to clear the waiting list but to increase the enrolment. But as to the exact figures, I am afraid, Mr Iswaran, these are based on population estimates and it is not very easy to come to accurate figures. But I think that with the completion of the six purpose-built schools, over time we will be able to cater to the demand.”
“Sir, I thank Mr Peh Chin Hua, Mr Hawazi and Mr Iswaran for speaking on the subject of special education for disabled children. I agree with them that the goal of our educational system is to develop every child to his potential, and this includes the potential of disabled children. In Singapore, there are opportunities for disabled children to develop their potential. Those who are able to cope with the rigours of mainstream curriculum can pursue an education in the mainstream schools while those who need specialised assistance can do so in special education (SPED) schools. Mr Peh Chin Hua mentioned the example of a successful disabled child from Taiwan raised in the United States. In Singapore, there are also examples of special children who, with the help of the special schools and with determination and support of the parents, can outshine in their abilities and achievements. So these examples are not just limited to children who live in other countries, but they are also found in Singapore. In fact, there are some pupils who have left SPED schools and gone on to continue their education in our local universities. Yes, our children who are disabled deserve an education that will enable them to develop their potential. But I must emphasise that this has to be done as a shared responsibility between the Government and the community. There are currently 16 SPED schools run by voluntary organisations, providing education to some 3,400 disabled children. In accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Council on the Disabled, the Government has since 1989 increasingly provided financial and other support towards the education of children with disabilities. Allow me, Sir, to briefly recount the progress that has been made in SPED education since then.”
“Yes, we have increased the number of doctors. You have just heard the Minister who said that over the last 10 years the number of doctors has increased significantly. This has made it possible for the patient load at our polyclinics to have declined. The doctor in the polyclinic is now seeing an average of 71 patients per day. Ten years ago, it was 95. The patient load of 70 patients per day is quite the same as the average 60-80 patients per day seen by the busy general practitioners. So if you talk about the quality of care, I think the polyclinics are offering an equivalent kind. But I must stress that the time spent by the doctor on a particular patient depends on his medical condition. We have some statistics.”
“As I said, we should not just look at geriatrics as a field for the elderly and this is the only way forward. No, I think it is a broad based strategy and every general practitioner and every community would have to share the responsibility of giving the best health care to the elderly.”