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.”
The complete record
Every one of 777 lines we hold for Aline K. Wong, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 16.
“These geriatric departments will form the node in each region for the networking of the community based health care services so that the care of the elderly could pass through a seamless web. But we must not just think of increasing the number of geriatricians or increasing the number of geriatric departments in hospitals as the specialised services for the elderly. These departments are for the management of multiple complicated problems of the elderly. For other conditions, the general medicine department, orthopaedic department, cardiology department, and the general wards can take care of the elderly. Indeed, the majority of the elderly can be taken care of in these general departments. So geriatric departments and geriatric care are a very specialised branch that is not meant to cater to everybody. It is meant to cater only to complicated multiple problems. I would also like to stress that the care for the elderly is the responsibility of all the doctors, including the general practitioners, as well as the family and the community. In fact, our emphasis should be on community based services rather than developing too fast or too many of these geriatric centres. Geriatrics is a relatively new field in Singapore. So far, we have trained 13 geriatricians and another five are in training. It is estimated that ideally we require 24 by the year 2000. We will work towards it and encourage more doctors to take it up. But it is a very challenging task to interest young doctors to do geriatrics. For one thing it is not considered to be glamorous enough but we will try to reverse the image. We are also providing a post-graduate diploma in geriatric medicine as well as training nurses in gerontology.”
“This type of groups can play a very important role in preventive health care for the elderly. If in future Dr Neo thinks that there is something that the Ministry of Health can do together with her, or together with the Community Development Council under which her constituency falls, by all means please approach us and we will talk about the details. I would like to explain to her that the Ministry of Health has been doing quite a lot of health promotion and disease prevention among the elderly. First of all, we have been promoting healthy living for everybody, including the elderly. We have been carrying out extensive health education promotions within community centres, in schools and so on. We also provide a very good health screening service at our polyclinics and at our senior citizens' health care centres. Preventive care for the elderly would be one other area that the Inter-Ministerial Committee will look at and see how we can strengthen it. We would most certainly increase our efforts in health education and health promotion. One preliminary thinking we have is that we could develop a protocol for health screening for the elderly to be given to the GPs and the polyclinics. Health screening for the elderly is a very time consuming exercise. We want to simplify it, but to make it adequate so that even general practitioners will find it possible to do health screening for the elderly. That would be one approach to improving preventive health care for the elderly. 5.15 pm As for geriatric services and training, and also geriatric hospitals, we have already got three geriatric departments, one each at the so-called regional hospitals. They are at Alexandra Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and also at the new Changi Hospital.”
“Sir, Mr Ibrahim Othman asked for some clarification on what other forms of help the Ministry of Health can give to the VWOs. I have indicated that where there is a need and request within our resources, we could second some medical officers and so on, as we have done to community hospitals. We could help in training, say, the nursing aides. In fact, I understand that the College of Family Physicians is thinking of organising such a course. There are many other ways that we could come in and help. As for financial support, the 50:50 recurrent expenditure subsidy, as I explained, is now a formula used for all VWOs whether they are under the Ministry of Community Development or under the Ministry of Health. But I think the Inter-Ministerial Committee will look into suggestions such as his, whether we could graduate the subsidy to VWOs offering different kinds of services. In fact, we are already in the process of costing the services, each particular type of service, so that we can help to fund the VWOs better. The Committee has just been formed. We will start meeting in August. Most probably, we will finish our deliberations by the end of this year or early next year. Dr Lily Neo talked about preventive health care for the elderly, especially in the community setting. I agree with her that the ideal place where the elderly can be cared for after discharge from hospital, or to help them stay in good health so that they do not fall sick and become hospitalised, would be the community. Therefore, I think we should welcome projects such as hers in Kim Seng where she would gather a group of elderly people, provide them with healthy social recreational opportunities, exercise, give them meals and so on.”
“Therefore, my Ministry has adopted the position that there should be a total prohibition on the creation of human babies by cloning technology. This is also in line with the stand adopted by the World Health Organisation in its recent Assembly in Geneva in May this year. The Assembly has adopted a resolution affirming that the use of cloning for the replication of human individuals is ethically unacceptable, and contrary to human integrity and morality. This is our stand and if Mr Peh is interested in reading the WHO document, I will be pleased to send it to him.”
“00 pm However, my Ministry is of the view that the production of identical copies of existing human beings is unacceptable. The reasons for this stand are many, and these reasons have been debated by the international community as well as by our own national Medical Ethics Committee. The reasons include: there would be an imposition of biological characteristics on human individuals by third parties. Human beings may one day be valued and reproduced for certain desirable characteristics, rather than as persons. You can also stretch your imagination that one day there could be commercialisation of human cloning, embryos being sold to potential so-called parents. Intrinsically, there are concerns about the health of the child which would be cloned, as well as the loss of genetic diversity and hybrid vigour in the population. Mr Peh came up with a very interesting theory about how human society is organised. He said that our moral values and social relationships are man made. To a certain extent, it is true. However, when you look at human civilisation, human reproduction is a very basic fact and a driving force of life on this earth. The relationships between man and woman and their offspring from the act of reproduction, ie, the family, actually forms the basis for the organisation of society. Besides that, there is the question of generations. Generational hierarchy is also a universal principle of organising human society. Unless you want to have a brave new world imagined by science fiction writers such as Aldous Huxley, which makes me shudder, I think we better not tangle with this. There are certain ethical limits that we must abide by.”
“I do understand that the VWOs are finding it quite strenuous to raise funds while providing services. The funding formula is one of the areas that will be very carefully looked into by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Health Care for the Elderly which would be chaired by the Minister for Health himself. I do not have time to update both Mr Peh Chin Hua and Mr Goh Choon Kang on the state of TCM and what we have done so far. I hope they will understand. We will find another occasion to inform them. But I cannot let pass Mr Peh Chin Hua's very interesting speech on human cloning, so allow me two minutes to respond to that. I must say that I am a little bit surprised at the range of interest that Mr Peh has, and the recurrent image of the sheep in this year's debate. Cloning means the production of genetically identical replicas which, in the broader sense, includes the replication of DNA, cells, embryos and the whole organism. I would like to inform Mr Peh from the very beginning that there are different levels of cloning. I understand that scientific breakthroughs occur from time to time and this may represent spurts of human creativity. Some of these discoveries can do good. But some of them could be harmful and, in fact, involve very difficult ethical dilemmas. We agree that there should not be a total ban on cloning research, as there are certain areas which could have beneficial results. In fact, we have supported research involving the replication of DNA and cells of both animal and human origin, which are now routine research techniques in molecular and cell biology. Such research, as I said, could have potential beneficial results, such as in the treatment of certain diseases like cancer or the generation of organs for transplantation. 5.”
“Sir, since I do not have much time, I would just concentrate on several things that I would like to clarify for Members of the House who spoke on the remaining subjects. Both Mr Yeo Guat Kwang and Mr Goh Choon Kang expressed concern about the level of funding that we give to the VWOs which are doing very important work in providing community-based health services, especially to our elderly. I like to clarify that the 50:50 funding formula for the recurrent expenditure actually applies to all VWOs, whether they provide social services under the Ministry of Community Development or health-related services under the Ministry of Health. Both Mr Goh and Mr Yeo are correct in saying that Government provides 90% of the capital expenditure. But I would like to point out that, apart from these two levels of funding, the Government helps the VWOs in many other ways. For example, we facilitate the allocation of State land and premises and we fund up to 90% of the cyclical maintenance cost for existing buildings. We also provide up to 100% of rental subsidy for the use of Government buildings or State land and we provide 100% rebate, for input GST. On top of that, we second doctors and nurses to work in some VWO facilities, and we facilitate the allocation of foreign workers' permits. The foreign workers levy is actually waived for the VWOs. Even the COEs for vehicles used in providing services by these VWOs are exempted. So these are various ways in which we help them. For the financial year 1997, our budget for the VWOs has actually doubled, twice what we provided last year. We projected for the next two years that there would be an increase of $4 million every year in terms of recurrent expenditure subsidies alone.”
“Sir, Jurong West New Town is currently about 60% developed. That is why we have plans for a new polyclinic there. As I told the Member just now, a suitable location has to be identified first. DR MAURINE TSAKOK (Termination of employment) 16. Mr Goh Choon Kang asked the Minister for Health if he will give the reasons for terminating the employment of Dr Maurine Tsakok, former head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Singapore General Hospital. 17. Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Health why the services of Dr Maurine Tsakok were terminated by the Singapore General Hospital.”
“Sir, the Ministry of Health plans to set up a polyclinic in Jurong West for the residents living in the New Town. MOH has submitted a request for land to build the polyclinic. The URA is in the process of identifying a suitable location under its new co-location concept. In the meantime, Jurong West residents can attend Jurong Polyclinic in Jurong East.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not have a ready answer to this question, but we will take a re-look at how the population is distributed. The proposed school is in Jurong West Extension Street 62. We do not know the exact address. But we will look again at the numbers and the population distribution, and so on. ESTIMATES CONTAINING A VOTE ON ACCOUNT FOR EXPENDITURE FOR PART OF FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL 1997 TO 31ST MARCH 1998 (Cmd. 18 of 1996) (Statement by the Minister for Finance)”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Development Guide Plan has to be reviewed from time to time. However, MOE is cognisant of the fact that there is a need for a primary school in that area and we have provided for one in Jurong West Extension. It is scheduled to be ready before the end of 1999.”
“I think our staffing ratios are satisfactory. They are not ideal, because there is a bit of shortage of doctors and nurses. Doctors are expected to do night calls for about 6-8 times a month. So there is this norm. Depending on the situation and the speciality department, they would do night duty between 6 and 8 times a month. The figures show that the level of service is okay, not ideal, but acceptable. CABLE TELEVISION FOR ALL HOMES IN SINGAPORE 6. Mr John De Payva asked the Minister for Information and the Arts why certain housing estates are still not equipped to receive cable television. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Information and the Arts (Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M) (for the Minister for Information and the Arts): Sir, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) has tasked Singapore CableVision (SCV) with the job of wiring all homes in Singapore. Under its plan to provide cable TV services to the whole island, SCV is wiring over 700,000 homes. Each home has to be wired individually. SCV is carrying out the wiring stage by stage because it is a massive project. It is not possible for all estates to be simultaneously wired for cable TV. SCV is currently wiring at the rate of 23,000 units per month, with the cooperation of residents. By 1998, all HDB estates will be wired up. The wiring of the whole of Singapore will be completed by the year 2000. RADIO AND TELEVISION RECEPTION 7. Mr John De Payva asked the Minister for Information and the Arts why the reception for radio, television and telephone in some housing estates is poor.”
“We monitor the number of A&E attendances very closely. So the kind of manpower we deploy to the A&E departments as well as the wards depends on historical figures and the pattern of usage. For example, in hospitals like SGH where the attendance at the A&E department is larger than other hospitals, we have more doctors in the SGH A&E department. As for doctor and nurse ratios, I have the figures here. The doctor to patient ratio for inpatient wards in 1995 was 1:10.4, nurse to patient ratio was 1:5.7. At A&E departments, doctor to patient ratio was 1:22, nurse to patient ratio was 1:11.”
“Mr Ling just said that he answered only when he was asked questions because he was only a Member of the Committee. He was not a representor. But as Chairman of the SDP, surely he must be interested to find out whether his position and his party's position was accurate and correct, and therefore he should have asked the representors some questions himself.”
“Can I ask Mr Ling, as Chairman of the SDP, was he not interested in finding out what was going on and finding an answer to his questions? Mr Ling How Doong: Can you repeat your question again?”
“No. As he said, he had said enough. In the end, Mr Ling claimed that he had never doubted that the Government spent substantial amounts on health care and he said his principal disagreement had been only with the definition of subsidy. I have already touched on this point. I would like to conclude that personally I am quite disappointed with the exercise, but the exercise need not be seen as a futile one. I think for those Singaporeans who are interested to follow the detailed presentation and the statistics, they know how in detail costs and subsidies are calculated, that we have always done things according to internationally recognised accounting principles, that the Auditor-General verified the figures and so on. Singaporeans can rest assured that there is nothing to hide, as far as the Ministry of Health is concerned. Again, I would like to remind Mr Ling that he himself is a Member of the House. He has every right to raise questions about health care subsidies in this House and we would never hide from his questions. Why is there the need to take this outside the House and cause all these things to happen?”
“Ramesh never explained his methodology in his article, but surprisingly, Dr Chee managed to reconstruct his wrong methodology successfully. I find it very amazing that Dr Chee was ingenious enough to reconstruct the incorrect method. But it never occurred to him that he should check his computation for 1990 to verify the trend against an extension of time series data between 1991 and 1994. The data has already been published. As a researcher, I would have gone to take a look at what lay beyond 1990 in order to see whether the sudden drop in 1990 was in accord with the trend or not. So he did not do his work right. I am speaking as someone who has experience with research and think that this piece of work should have been presented with all serious intention and deliberation, because the SDP knew very well that it was coming before a Parliamentary Select Committee. I was quite disappointed with the quality of the research. As for Mr Ling, my impression of his attitude at the Select Committee is that actually a lot of the times he was not really paying very much attention to the proceedings of the Committee. It was only when he was pushed and asked to answer questions that he really had to face the facts, so to speak, and what you see on the television snippets are those moments that he was asked to answer questions. As the Minister had already indicated when the Auditor-General gave his reports and so on, Mr Ling did not ask questions. When the Health Ministry came and gave their representation, he kept on asking only about Sunny Kow's case. Mr Ling How Doong rose ---”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am just analysing the way the chart is structured and presented from the point of view of what research should be like. I am making a judgment on a piece of research. As a researcher, I think I have a right to say what I think is the quality of the research. The drastic drop in a matter of one year would have caused any researcher to take a very close look to find out what are the reasons behind this and whether there could have been any computational errors. I recall that we at the Ministry of Health were extremely perplexed by Chart I. Our officials had to conduct a very time- consuming research on Dr Chee's chart. What are his sources? Is there any misquotation? Is there one source, or are there several sources from which figures are plucked out of context? What we found was quite astonishing. First, he used M. Ramesh's article which he quoted as his only source to obtain the 1985 and 1989 figures. The figures for 1970 and 1990 were not contained in Ramesh's article. The 1970 figure was apparently lifted from either a 1991 or 1993 article by Mukul Asher, but Dr Chee did not acknowledge this source. Finally, he superimposed his own computation for 1990 to show a steep plunge which he claimed prove his case that health care cost is hardly subsidised at all. It was only after many attempts that the Ministry officials finally succeeded in reconstructing Chart I, errors and all. It is like a piece of detective work. It was no mean feat, no mean task, and no one imagined that the figures for Chart I were derived by combining two incompatible time series in one equation. These two incompatible time series were: one based on current prices and the other based on 1985 prices. Also, M.”
“This drastic drop in a matter of one year would have caused any researcher to take a very close look to find out what were the reasons behind this and whether there could have been any computational errors. Unfortunately, Dr Chee did none of that. I recall that we at the Health Ministry --- Mr Ling How Doong rose ---”
“The common understanding of subsidy is so well-defined in the dictionaries and yet his final position was that there was no such thing. I just want to share with the House some impressions I have of the proceedings of the Select Committee without going over the details of our examination or inquiry again, especially my impression of the representation made by Dr Chee Soon Juan and the SDP. As I said, Mr Ling is the Chairman of the SDP. He should take some responsibility for the submission of the SDP. But here, I am not speaking only as a Member of the Select Committee, but also speaking from years of experience in teaching and researching at the National University of Singapore. What disturbed me was the shoddiness of the written representation submitted by the SDP to the Select Committee. Since the SDP welcomed the formation of the Select Committee and said it was looking forward to taking part in the public hearing, one would expect that the SDP would take the whole exercise seriously and present a credible case to challenge the Government's position. What came about was a big disappointment. The written representation submitted to the Select Committee was full of factual errors. The various charts that formed the backbone of the SDP's allegation were very poorly prepared with obvious and gross errors in the headings and contents. Chart 1 was crucial to the SDP's allegation. It was supposed to show that the Government health expenditure as a percentage of total Government expenditure had declined over the years since 1970. There were four points on the graph corresponding to the years 1970, 1985, 1989 and 1990. The chart showed a drastic drop between 1989 and 1990, from 27% to only 5%.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, for those of us who were Members of the Select Committee and for members of the press and members of the public who have watched the proceedings, I think this appears to be so much deja vu. We really should not be replaying in the House the whole proceedings of the Select Committee again. We are here to debate the Report. We are here to shed further light on the issue and Mr Ling at this moment is intent on saving his own skin. Let us be clear. He is the Chairman of the SDP. He is responsible for the SDP's newsletter, The New Democrat. He is responsible for the written submission of the SDP to the Select Committee and what has he got to say about this. Yes, there could be something like assertion of facts, but facts can be proven wrong. Figures have been given by SMA and the charges by polyclinics have been verified by the Singapore Medical Association which is an independent professional body. Opinions can be misleading, especially if they are based on wrong facts. So if we carry on like this, 14 hours of debate and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the hearings, then they have come to nothing. We knew it was so difficult to make progress with Mr Ling at the Select Committee meetings. Every single step forward, there were two steps backward. At the end, he claimed that there was no such thing as subsidy. His definition of "subsidy" is so strange that nobody will understand him. If the Opposition wants to engage in a constructive debate with the Government, rightly over an issue which concerns public health care costs, surely, there must be some common starting ground. He said that he meant one thing but we meant another. How can we talk?”
“Sir, in reviewing the legislation we would certainly take that into consideration. QUESTIONING OF MINORS BY POLICE (Procedures) The following Question stood in the name of Dr Kanwaljit Soin 4. To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether there is any specific protocol or procedure followed by the police in the questioning of minors, especially those who are mentally abnormal.”
“Sir, house officers are deployed to public sector hospitals for the purpose of training so as to enable them to be fully registered medical practitioners. Over the last five years, the number of house officers posted to public sector hospitals has remained constant at about 170. The distribution of house officers to public sector hospitals is determined by the number of approved training positions and not by service requirements. House officers, however, do contribute to service in the course of their training, such as performing night duties, and so on. To ensure that the service workload of house officers is reasonable, the Ministry of Health has issued guidelines to the hospitals to pool the duties of house officers with junior medical officers, when necessary.”
“Sir, I can only take note of the Member's concern. I think this supplementary question is a bit out of the original question.”
“I do not see any logical reason why the C class wards would be occupied specially by children from the low-income families. I think it caters to all families from all kinds of backgrounds. But, as I said, if the patient or his family cannot afford to pay, he can always apply for a waiver or Medifund help.”
“No. There are no C class beds for burns patients at SGH. This is a highly specialised sub-specialty and it is not possible to have that kind of ward and medical sub-specialisation where we can provide for C class beds.”
“He is staying in a B2 ward and he consumes the services provided to him at B2 rate. So it is not a question of fairness. Also, from the point of view of the hospital, it is impossible to predict, on a daily basis, how many patients would request to go to which class of ward.”
“I have already answered that question. If he requests to be admitted to C class bed and there is no C class bed available at the time of admission, then he will be put into B2 class. He will be asked to pay at B2 rate because he, in fact, consumes B2 class services. If he cannot pay, he can apply to downgrade to C class”
“The other class of patients would be told at the point of admission, especially if it is an elective case or elective surgery, that for certain sub-specialities, C class bed is not available. But this situation applies only in very few tertiary sub-specialities in SGH. The figures I have do not segregate between these two. But further to my point, my answer to his question about the number of patients not being able to be admitted to C class because of shortage of beds, I think the picture per day is actually a more accurate picture because the hospital has to watch bed turnover and bed occupancy per day. So at the time of admission, it depends on that particular day. I think this is a clearer picture in answer to his question. But in any case, I apologise for not giving him the exact figure.”
“I am sorry for the not-so-specific answer to his question about the number in 1994 and 1995. If there are no C class beds available for patients at the time of admission, they will be lodged in B2 class. And if there is a C class bed available later, the patient can downgrade to C class ward. If there is no C class bed available for the length of his stay, then the patient is requested to pay at B2 rate. But if he cannot pay, he can always request for downgrading and the Medical Social Worker would look into it. If he is in financial difficulty, he can be helped by Medifund or waiver. What is the exact nature of the Member's second question, please?”
“I am afraid I have only got the average number per day. But if he can just multiply it by the number of days in a year, he can get the total number.”
“I take the point from Mr Choo that the schools should take all measures to solve the problem. But I was referring to the question of discipline which Dr Ow Chin Hock mentioned in relation to CME. As far as the schools with problem students are concerned, my colleague, Mr Sidek, is going to answer that.”
“No, I did not mean that. What I meant was that the extent of serious disciplinary problem is not great.”
“They must be taught by example, and the parents must also set the example. I must say that I have seen enough instances where our working parents indulge their children so much that sometimes they do not even scold their children when they behave ungraciously in public. I think that is wrong. Parents must also play a part; everybody must play a part.”
“And these two programmes are further reinforced through community service projects, and so on. The Minister for Information and the Arts also broached the subject of introducing the so-called "Small Kindness Movement" through the Singapore Courtesy Council. At the moment, my Ministry is studying the merits of the proposal and see how we can fit into this. While the schools can play their part in disseminating and teaching graciousness, I like to emphasise that our community, ie, the public bodies, the trade unions, the business circles and social groups, must also play a part. They have been participating in the courtesy campaign. I think it just takes a little bit of expansion of the campaign to include the quality of graciousness in the promotion of courtesy throughout Singapore, so that it can become a nation-wide movement. I like also to say that the family too must play a role. Parents have to be good role models and they must be prepared to not just teach, but also scold or chide their children whenever they show discourteous or ungracious behaviour. During the debate under the Ministry of Information and the Arts, I think my colleague, Mr Davinder Singh, said that since the parents are working nowadays, they do not have the time. Or if they have the time with their children, they want them to sit down to do their homework, and they have no time to discuss social issues such as graciousness with their children. And he also said that, if I quote him correctly, the responsibility lies squarely on the schools. I disagree with him. The responsibility also lies with the parents. Graciousness such as kindness, politeness, helpfulness, gentleness and civic-mindedness cannot be taught by precepts alone.”
“We have also formalised a school discipline committee which is chaired by the Principal. We are using computers to help us monitor the incidence of discipline problems in schools. We collaborate with parents also. For Members' information, school principals as well as teachers hold meet-the-parents sessions in schools and we invite the parents to come and discuss the children's progress. Some schools do it once every six months while others do it once every year. So we maintain constant contact with the parents. If there is any problem with regard to attendance and handing in of assignments, the teachers will call the parents and do home visits. With regard to other types of discipline problems where the Police need to be informed and involved, we do that. As far as the more serious discipline problems are concerned, we are closely liaising with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Police and the Ministry of Community Development. If the case involves the family, we refer it to counselling and social service agencies. 1.45 pm My final subject touches on the promotion of a gracious society. This question was raised by Mr Chew Heng Ching who raised the same subject during the debate on the estimates for the Ministry of Information and the Arts. Needless to say, all along our schools have emphasised the importance of courtesy, care and concern to pupils, so that they can develop into gracious young men and women. The school environment itself encourages the development of these traits. The pupils are taught to show respect to the teachers and elders, including visitors to the school. Civics and moral education and the pastoral care programmes are two special programmes that will help to bring up the students into gracious young men and women.”
“Yes, I would like to inform him that the revised Civics and Moral Education syllabus has been fully implemented in the primary schools since 1994. For secondary schools, the new syllabus will be completely phased in this year. He asked how we assess the students since there is no examination in Civics and Moral Education. At the primary level, the teachers award grades based on their perception of the behaviour and conduct of the pupils together with inputs given by several teachers. These grades are then entered in the pupils' report cards. So even though Civics and Moral Education is not an examinable subject, grades are given to the students based on the teachers' perception of the students' conduct and behaviour after consultation with several teachers. At the secondary level, Civics and Moral Education is assessed through both formal and non-formal modes of assessment. The formal mode is the paper and pen test and this forms about 40% of the weighting. Then there is the non-formal mode which makes up 60% of the weighting. This includes presentations, service oriented activities and projects. He also asked whether we reinforce the teaching of CME through other activities. Yes, CME has always been reinforced by students taking up community service projects, extra-curricular activities, leadership camps, etc. He expressed some concern about the discipline of students arising from his emphasis on civics and moral education. I would like to assure him that the situation with school discipline is not a serious one. We have taken several measures this year to help address the problem, even though it has by no means reached a serious proportion. For example, we have formalised the post of a discipline master who now has the status of Head of Department.”
“We have noticed that there are fewer and fewer young teachers who want to take up the teaching of Tamil. But to raise the teaching of Tamil from a diploma course to a degree course is only one way of solving the problem. We have been trying to recruit Tamil teachers from India to fill our current shortage. Last year, we recruited 31 teachers from India and all of them have assumed teaching in our schools already. As to the nurturing of our local Tamil teachers, it is not just a matter of how many Tamil teachers at present would like to upgrade to a degree course. It is not just a question of the present pool of Tamil teachers. I am sure the aspiration to upgrade is there. But it is also a question of whether a degree course in Tamil language can be sustained over the long run. It is also a question of the entry requirements. How many of the existing Tamil teachers are able to meet the entry requirements for a degree course? The NIE maintains a very high standard that is comparable to NUS for entry to its BA, BSc cum Diploma in Education programme. So we have to look at the profile and requirements before we can commit ourselves to a firm answer. We can certainly look into it. But, as I said, it is not just a question of numbers. It is a question of sustainability. It is also a question of entry standards. Meanwhile, I would like to inform him that the Ministry has supported Tamil teachers who wish to pursue a degree in Tamil language at selected universities in India. They are given study leave, tuition loans, and so on. The number has not been great, but encouraging. On moral education, Dr Ow asked a couple of specific questions. He asked whether the new syllabus has been completely phased in.”
“In 1995, we sent 30 teachers and in 1996, 40. Before that, for a couple of years, we have already started to send them to specialised courses in China. We have also engaged consultants from China to conduct short training courses locally. The number of teachers who have attended these courses is quite large. In 1995, 147; 1996, 220 (estimated). We also have NIE in-service courses on the teaching of Chinese. Every year we provide these courses to over 100 teachers. Mr Sinnakaruppan asked about the teaching of Tamil. On the one hand, he said we should maintain high standards, yet on the other hand, he said that there has been some feedback that the standard which is being taught seems to be a little too high and that there is too much emphasis on grammar. I must admit that I know nothing about the teaching of Tamil, although of course I ask my specialist officers about it. They assure me that the quality of teaching and learning of all the mother tongues is maintained through the setting of equivalent standards in the syllabuses, in the examinations, textbooks and teacher qualifications. The Tamil teachers are required to have the same professional and academic qualifications as all the other language teachers. So the standard is assured. But whether it is pitched at too high a standard, I could ask our specialist teachers to take a look at it and see whether we are pitching it at too high a level. But since they told me that they are pitched at equivalent levels across all the mother tongues, perhaps this is a matter of equivalent standards. Mr Sinnakaruppan also asked whether the Tamil language course could be upgraded from the diploma level to a degree level course. Yes, there is a shortage of local Tamil teachers.”
“Based on the recommendations of the Committee, we have integrated interesting ways of conveying both these two objectives by including more stories, more poems, more interesting cultural events and so forth, to develop the children's interest in Chinese. A second question Dr Ow asked is about the promotion of supplementary reading in Chinese. One of the recommendations of the Review Committee is to set up a Chinese Supplementary Readers' Council and this was set up in 1993 to promote Chinese reading. The Council does this by reviewing and recommending books and distributing lists of supplementary readers to both the primary and secondary schools, junior colleges, and so on. Since 1994, the Council has distributed a total of nine lists of recommended readers, which include a total of 600 titles. 600 titles is quite a long list for supplementary reading. In addition, the Council itself has reviewed and launched a total of five new readers. The recommended list is given to the school libraries. They choose which to acquire and the Chinese teachers use them for enriching the students' reading programmes. A third question asked by Dr Ow is whether we use multi-media, ie, modern IT technology, in the teaching of Chinese. Yes, we do. In fact, since last year we have been using six new Chinese language multi-media instructional packages for both primary and secondary levels. These have incorporated the recommendations of the Committee based on the revised syllabus, the new word list and so forth. Finally, Dr Ow asked how many Chinese language teachers have received upgraded training in the teaching of Chinese. I would like to assure him that for the last three to four years we have been sending Chinese language teachers to attend customised courses in China.”
“In the national examinations, the oral skills take up 20% of the assessment, while reading and writing take up 80%. As for exposure to more subjects in the mother tongue, and he referred to the Chinese language, let me inform him that at both the secondary and pre-university levels, there is provision for the learning of Chinese literature. In addition, at the pre-university level, pupils may offer History in Chinese. Starting last year, a new subject called General Studies in Chinese offered at the `AO' level was made available. For other subjects like physical education, moral education, music and art, teachers may use Chinese in classes where all the pupils take Chinese as the mother tongue. The SAP schools are given the flexibility to teach moral education and some other subjects in Mandarin, if not all the time, at least whenever they feel the need to do so. They are given this flexibility. Dr Ow asked about the progress in implementation of the recommendations of the Report of the Chinese Language Review Committee chaired by Mr Ong Teng Cheong. Specifically, he asked four points. One, the revision of the Chinese Language syllabus for primary and secondary school students. I would like to inform him that we began to implement the revised syllabuses from 1995 by levels. This year, pupils in Primary 1 to 3, and Secondary 1 to 2, both Special and Express streams, as well as Secondary 1 to 3, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams, are already studying the Chinese language based on the revised syllabuses. The revised syllabuses have a twin objective: (1) to develop the language proficiency of the students; and (2) to inculcate Asian culture and traditional values.”
“Let me point out that the so-called two tier per capita cap is an internal arrangement within the National Council of Social Service only. It is true that during the last two years, the Ministry had been flexible in giving more per capita grant to three schools catering to the multiple handicapped. However, two years of flexibility does not establish a rule. I think she would agree with me that it is very difficult to distinguish between the education and welfare components in providing for students in SPED schools. Even for the education component, it is very difficult to distinguish between the basic education part, ie, training, like other students, for numeracy and literacy, and the rehabilitative part where the students receive speech, physio or occupational therapy. So for the moment, let us continue to work within this formula. It has served us well and we will have to watch for the cost effectiveness of the programmes at the SPED schools. I think she should be happy with so many benefits that we have announced today for the SPED schools. 1.30 pm Let me come to the questions on mother tongue. Mr Peh Chin Hua has spoken on the need for us to put greater emphasis on teaching the mother tongue not only orally but also in reading and writing. He also mentioned that we should allow the students greater exposure to the mother tongue through teaching some more subjects in the mother tongue. Let me assure him that the teaching of the Chinese language provides for a balance in the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to help the pupils attain proficiency. We put adequate emphasis on reading and writing, both at the primary and secondary levels. Both the skills are taught as well as examined.”
“Another six will be added this year. So there will be a total of 11 computers which will be linked to a school local area network called the LAN System. Do we have a target for computer-teacher and computer-student ratios? For the AITP roll-out plan, we are working towards one PC for every five teachers and one PC for every 15 pupils. But I think we have to feel our way. From our pilot study, we have to evaluate the effectiveness of the ratios. We cannot stick to it as a hard and fast rule. As to what steps we are taking to increase home ownership of computers, it would be ideal if every school student in Singapore can own a home computer. In fact, Singapore already has one of the highest ownership of computers in the world, granted that some homes have more than one computer and some homes do not have any. Yes, we could look into various ways to help students have access to computers at home. But first, we can provide more access to computers at the school, if students cannot afford to have one at home. By putting more computers in resource rooms, libraries, in open areas in schools and so on, we can help students to have access to the computers, even if they do not own one at home. I am sorry, when I looked at Dr Soin, I realised that I had missed her question regarding special schools. Let me just go back very briefly. She asked whether the Ministry can consider funding 100% of the education component of the special school's recurrent expenditure. She knows that we are funding 50% of the recurrent expenditure of special schools. Within this funding principle, there is some variation with regard to the kind of programmes that the students attend.”
“So through such an IT-enriched environment and curriculum in the schools, we can further develop our students' thinking skills and capacity for harnessing the usefulness of IT in the learning process and to prepare them for the later challenges of working life. Dr Arthur Beng and Mr Sinnakaruppan asked for some specific statistics about the extent of how IT is being provided in the schools. As to how many teachers have been trained, so far, about 3,000 primary and 6,000 secondary teachers have attended various computer courses. These courses expose them to computer literacy as well as teach them how to use the computer effectively in teaching curriculum subjects. Do we provide the latest Pentium computers? As a guiding principle, the Ministry provides up-to-date models which are capable of remaining current for the next 4-5 years. We all know computers are very expensive and they can become obsolete in 4-5 years' time. Our principle is to provide up-to-date models which are capable of at least being in use for 4-5 years. For the AITP project, the schools are provided with multi-media Pentiums or Macintosh Performas. For the STW, schools are given a mix of 486s and Pentiums. But I think we have to evaluate whether the use of these computers is cost effective in teaching students at various levels. Even in a country like Isreal where they have pushed IT in schools on a very big scale, they are not using the latest type of computers or the most powerful type for the lower level school students. I think we have to be a bit cautious in spending money on acquiring hardware. As to how many computers are provided to schools for administrative use, currently, five computers are provided for every primary and secondary school for administrative use.”
“As I mentioned, IT is not only used as a teaching tool, it is also being taught as a special area in our schools, beginning with keyboarding. Keyboarding is a very basic skill for using computers effectively and efficiently. And we have been teaching keyboarding to Primary Five pupils in some schools already. From the feedback we have obtained, it is considered to be very useful and essential. So we have plans to teach keyboarding skills for primary students at earlier levels. In the secondary schools, IT is taught as a core subject called "Computer Applications" in the Normal (Technical) stream. These students in the Normal (Technical) stream will acquire practical skills in word processing, in desktop publishing, graphics and design. At the junior college level, interested students can offer "Computing" as an elective 'A' level subject. At present, we do not plan to introduce IT as a separate learning subject in secondary schools along the same lines as, say, English and Mathematics. Our approach is to integrate the use of IT in the learning of these subjects. I think in this way, it would be more fun and it would stimulate students' thinking skills, than to teach IT as a separate subject in the secondary schools. Finally, on the provision and exposure of IT in schools, we are providing computer laboratories as standard resources. At the same time, we are looking into putting computers in some classrooms, science laboratories, resource rooms and other appropriate areas within the school, such as in some open spaces and in staff rooms, so that both students and teachers can have access to the computers after school hours.”
“We are sourcing for suitable courseware which is available in the commercial market and which can be integrated into our teaching of the subject matters. Our Curriculum Development Institute is also developing its own courseware. To begin with, we are developing courseware in Mathematics. At the secondary school level, the Ministry is piloting a special project which Members may have heard or read about in the papers. This is known as the Students' and Teachers' Workbench (STW). This is a flagship project in the National Computer Board's IT 2000 Vision of turning Singapore into an intelligent island. The pilot project which began in January 1996, as scheduled, is implemented in six secondary schools. And in each of these schools, the STW is used by 3-6 teachers to teach science in Secondary One. A total of 2,000 Secondary One students in all streams in these schools are presently using the STW system. The system is being used in the STW classrooms, in the science laboratories as well as the resource rooms. The STW is essentially a central collection of educational resources which both the teachers and the students can access very easily, at the touch of a few buttons. It is hooked to Internet and it utilises multi-media resources. We have received some very positive feedback so far. So we may have to look into extending the STW to Secondary Two next year. In addition to AITP and STW, the Ministry encourages the development of more multi-media CD-ROM titles for schools to choose from. And we are working very closely with the National Computer Board as well as the private industries in developing the software and to keep them updated about our school requirements.”
“Very broadly speaking, IT is introduced in three ways. First, use of IT as a teaching tool; second, the teaching of IT in schools; third, provision and exposure to IT in schools. We use IT as a teaching tool or what is known as computer-based learning in our schools. All the schools are being provided with 1-2 computer laboratories. The facilities are already in place in all junior colleges and secondary schools. The provisions in the primary schools should be completed by early next year, once the necessary renovations are completed. Some of our primary schools do not have the necessary infrastructure like electricity loading, etc, for the additional number of computers. So we have to wait for the renovations to be completed for all the primary schools, so that they could be provided with computers. The target date is early next year. Beyond the provision of hardware, the challenge is to ensure that our teachers are adequately trained and that we have enough appropriate courseware to use IT to teach the curriculum subjects. In the primary schools, the emphasis is on using the computer as a teaching and learning tool. The idea is to integrate IT into existing curriculum subjects. With the assistance of the National Computer Board, the strategy has been to implement the IT programme on a pilot basis in six schools, while preparing for the roll-out to the remaining 191 primary schools. The pilot programme known as Accelerating the Use of IT in Primary Schools (AITP) was launched in mid-1995. The scope of this pilot project involves all streams at the primary level and, wherever possible, all the subjects. So we are piloting the use of computer-based learning for most curriculum subjects.”
“We have provided a start-up grant for the cost of the renovations and also to help them cover their operating deficit in the initial years. Eventually, they are expected to become self-financing. 1.15 pm The dyslexia centre at Ping Yi School actually started operation in January this year, with about 29 Primary One to Primary Four pupils. It is expected that when the school is operating in full capacity, it can accommodate 200 pupils. The above-average as well as the average pupils who are identified by school teachers as being moderately to severely dyslexic are referred to the Dyslexia Association's centres where they will receive extra remedial tuition conducted by specialist teachers. These remedial lessons last for about an hour per session and most students attend twice a week. Each remedial group consists of a very small number of students, varying between four and six. Once these students overcome the learning disability, they need not continue with their remedial lessons. As I said, the Dyslexia Association of Singapore has another centre in Clementi Community Centre and they are providing remedial tuition for about 32 Primary One to Primary Four pupils. The Association is charging a fee of $1,400 a year per pupil. But for needy students, the Ministry helps them by providing financial assistance. Let me come to the subject of information technology (IT). Dr Arthur Beng, Mr Sinnakaruppan and also Dr Ong Chit Chung have spoken on it. There is no question that the revolution in IT will have revolutionary effects on the way we live, study and work, and the way we spend our leisure hours. To face this challenge and in preparation for the 21st century, my Ministry is putting in place a very comprehensive programme to introduce IT in our schools.”
“He also asked whether the Edusave Merit Bursary scheme could be extended to the top 30% of the student population. The question is where do we stop. I think 25% is already quite a broad band. Since the scheme only came into existence last year, we would like to monitor the effectiveness of the scheme whose purpose is to motivate more pupils from the lower income families to do well in schools. So we would like to see whether this scheme has met its objective before considering whether it should be extended further. Dr Ong Chit Chung asked what further things we are doing for students in the special education schools. I have just announced that, with effect from this year, the children who attend SPED schools will be receiving Edusave contributions. And these schools will also receive Edusave grants. I am also pleased to tell him that, by way of helping the schools with their capital expenditures, the Ministry will from this year revise the funding formula from 80/20 to 90/10, that is, the Ministry would bear 90% of the capital expenditure. We should note that the Government has already been providing renovated school buildings to them and we also bear the cyclical repair costs. This new funding formula will further assist them in developing purpose-built schools in future. As regards students with some learning difficulties, especially those known to be having dyslexia, Dr Ong also asked what we are doing to help them. The Ministry is working in collaboration with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore to help Primary 1 to Primary 4 pupils with dyslexia to overcome their learning disabilities. We have given the Dyslexia Association a start-up grant of up to $500,000 to set up their second Dyslexia Centre in Ping Yi Primary School. They already have one in Clementi.”
“And the Ministry supervises and monitors these schools as well as provides capitation grants for 50% of their recurrent expenditures. At present, the SPED schools are not included in the Edusave Scheme. The Government has received many appeals from Members of the House as well as the National Council of Social Service. I am pleased to announce that the Ministry has decided to extend the Edusave Scheme to children in the special schools starting from 1996. They can use Edusave for programmes which are over and above the basic education and training programmes, such as special outings, survival skills in water, computer-assisted learning and even aesthetic activities for some children. Eligible children in the special schools will receive an Edusave contribution of $130 in 1996. In addition, the SPED schools will also receive an Edusave grant at $50 per pupil, similar to the primary schools. The budget required is around $540,000. More details on the scheme will be made known to the SPED schools at a later date. Mr Umar asked whether the Edusave Merit Bursary Scheme could also be extended to polytechnic students. I would like to remind Members that the scheme is designed for students between ages 6 and 16, that is, for primary and secondary students. Polytechnic students are generally regarded as studying in tertiary education institutions and when they graduate from these institutions, they can earn better income than those who do not. So for polytechnic students, we have decided not to extend the Edusave Scheme to them. But if they are in any financial difficulty, the polytechnics have established tuition fee loan schemes, bursaries and other financial assistance for them.”