Chan Chun Sing
Singapore
“Since 2002, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has worked with the autonomous universities (AUs) to establish arrangements that minimise disruption to National Servicemen (NSmen) who are pursuing full-time studies up to the undergraduate level, while meeting the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) operational and training needs.”
“Secondments help to build up the range of competencies and work experiences of public officers to strengthen their longer-term employment relevance and resilience. The Public Service Division's guideline to agencies is to support public officers even while they are on secondment.”
“The priority of our National Servicemen must be their military duties and operational training, to meet the Singapore Armed Forces's (SAF's) operational requirements.”
“In January 2026, I had informed this House that the Government had convened an independent committee to conduct a review of the political salary framework that was laid out in 2012. The Committee has completed the review and submitted its recommendations to the Government in April.”
“All countries seek to develop mutually beneficial partnerships, and the United States-Indonesia Major Defence Cooperation Partnership is one such example.”
“Since the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps (SAFVC) was established in 2014, over 1,500 men and women have completed training and served as SAFVC Volunteers (SVs). Presently, there are about 1,100 in-service SVs, comprising 52% male and 48% female. About seven in 10 of our in-service SVs are new Citizens or Permanent Residents.”
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“One, leveraging their research and innovation capabilities to develop new products and services which enable other sectors of our society to tackle sustainability challenges. Two, developing the skills and competencies of our graduates and the workforce to enable them to seize opportunities in the green economy. Let me elaborate. The deep research and innovation capabilities of our institutions position them well to advance Singapore's sustainability goals. In tandem with their hands-on approach to sustainability education, our institutions partner companies, agencies and our community on research and innovation projects that advance national sustainability efforts. This is done in two ways. First, our institutions can develop innovative solutions to support the industry's green transformation. Through projects that they work on with the industry, the Polytechnics enable local enterprises to reduce their carbon emissions and achieve sustainability goals. For example, in January this year, Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) launched a Sustainability Experience Centre in partnership with Schneider Electric, a company specialising in energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability. Through the Centre, NYP staff and students will work with 100 small and medium enterprises by 2023, to co-create and implement energy-efficient initiatives. In partnership with a local startup, Firmbase Private Limited, Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Environmental and Water Technology Centre of Innovation has recently developed a membrane for effective oil-water separation in the treatment of oily wastewater in the oil and gas industry.”
“Mr Chairman, to achieve sustainability as our competitive advantage for Singapore, foundational education in our schools will be a key enabler; but the capabilities of our institutions – Universities, Polytechnics and ITE – and the competencies of our graduates and the workforce, will be the real needle movers. Let me first provide an update on our efforts in our schools. MOE has been making good progress since the announcement of the Eco-Stewardship Programme, or ESP, last year. Through the "4Cs" approach of Curriculum, Campus, Culture and Community, we continue to holistically nurture our students from Primary to pre-University levels to be environmental stewards for our future. We will continue to support our teachers for the ESP through professional development opportunities and teaching resources on sustainability in the Student Learning Space. MOE is also developing an Eco-Stewardship Toolkit, which will include a repository of resources to further support schools in strengthening their sustainability journey. Beyond our schools. I agree with Ms Foo Mee Har that our institutions play a critical role in Singapore's green transition. As part of our Green Plan effort, our institutions have made sustainability a strategic priority in their agendas, with some of our Autonomous Universities developing comprehensive masterplans on their sustainability targets and initiatives. Miss Rachel Ong has asked how our institutions are stepping up efforts to support sustainable living and the green economy. There are two needle-moving areas that our institutions can contribute to the national sustainability push.”
“Primary schools allocate students to Primary 3 classes to ensure a good mix of gender, race and learning ability. This creates a rich learning environment for students to learn holistically, enhance their socio-emotional competencies and broaden their perspectives. Class allocations are maintained from Primary 3 to Primary 4, to provide stability and continuity in teacher-student relationships. This enables teachers to strengthen pastoral care for students and better cater for individual student's development.”
“That is something that speaks to the quality of our education workforce, the kind of people that we have in the system that make our education system something that we can all be proud of, that makes our education system able to continue to function, notwithstanding COVID-19. So, yes, MOE will continue to see how we can lighten the workload of our teachers by making sure that we review the curriculum, applying technologies and so forth. That is our promise to our teachers. We want to do that. But I think it is also not realistic for us to therefore say that every teacher shall not work more than x hours. Because their conditions are different, the types of students they are managing are different and I have seen all my teachers, including the very good teachers and counsellors in Northlight School, going way beyond their call of duty in order to take care of all our children.”
“Mr Chair, in fact, the question that Dr Wan Rizal posed, I have asked my teachers in my weekly visits to the schools. Do they want a hard cap? Is it practical to have a hard cap? I am actually very heartened by the answers given to me by my teachers. We all know our teachers work way beyond what we expect of them in taking care of our children. In fact, for some of the high needs students, our teachers have no cap whatsoever. I visited Northlight School. A very challenging group of students. Sometimes, they get into trouble with their families. Sometimes, they get kicked out of their home in the middle of the night. But guess what? Many teachers in Northlight School gave their personal handphone number to their students to call them if they ever get into trouble outside school or if they ever got kicked out of their home. We have teachers that responded in the middle of the night, way past midnight, to pick up a student, to take care of them. So, Mr Chairman, I think we all appreciate the point that we want to take care of our teachers and we want to do more. We all want in our different ways to try to alleviate the workload for our teachers by partnering them, by not overly burdening them with unrealistic expectations. We all can do something. But I think it is also very unrealistic for us to put such a cap on our teachers. And even if I do, I do not think my teachers will stop just because they consciously calculate that, "My time is up and therefore, I will not respond to this high-needs student of mine". I think that is something immeasurable.”
“I will be very careful as the Minister for Education to try to dictate for every school, given their different conditions, to have the same start or end time. I think I want my teachers, I want my students to have that agency to take charge of this and come to a reasonable understanding of where they want to be, given their different conditions.”
“Mr Chairman, the answer to Assoc Prof Jamus Lim's first question is that the weights in different schools differ slightly because of the different profiles of students. If you would like to know the specific weights for different schools, then I think we can provide him with the information. But as I have mentioned, the school profiles are all different and we should not try to homogenise, have a one-size-fit-all measure or yardstick to judge all our students. We are moving towards a system that is much more customised to the respective needs of the students. On the second point, in fact, a lot of our schools have different start times. Some of them have later start times on certain days of the week but it all depends on when they start, when they end. Some of our schools have kept certain afternoons totally free for their students and their teachers to recharge and do other things. What I want to emphasise is this. If we recognise that the learning needs of our students are diverse, if we recognise that the background profiles of our students are diverse, we should strive towards a system that provides more diverse options for our schools, our teachers and our students. I think we must take care to not try to homogenise all the conditions when we in fact have agreed that we need greater diversity, which was what I mentioned in my speech. Actually, MOE has just one very simple rule: Thou shalt not start school before 7.30 am. But I have gotten feedback from different schools on when they want to start and also when they want to end, which the day they want to start later and how much later. In fact, this is a very good exercise for our students and teachers to come together and decide collectively what are their priorities and how do they prioritise the time.”
“So, having said this, I am under no illusion that exams will have some stress. And I must also qualify that it is not our aim to remove all stress from our children. It is not possible and that should not be our aim. Our aim is to make sure that we stretch our students appropriately. Not too much, not too little. Having said that, we as parents, we as educators, we need to focus on these four sets of issues and hopefully find the correct answers for ourselves. Why we test, how we test, when we test and what do we do with the test results.”
“But on the other hand, if we test too late, we will be unable to apply the interventions necessary to help our children to progress at a pace that is suitable to them. So, somewhere in between testing too early and testing too late, we need to find the Goldilocks point that is just right. And we will continue to study this. And I must qualify, given the diversity of our learners, it is very hard to say that there is just one point for everyone. But to the extent that we can, we will find that point – be it PSLE or otherwise – to cater to the bulk of our students. But the assurance that we want to give to everyone is this: that one point does not and will not define a person's future forever. We have a process of what Senior Minister Tharman called "continuous meritocracy", where it is about continuous assessment, performance that determines one's achievement in life and not just on a single point and a single assessment – that should not be our attitude, otherwise, we instil fear in our students. The final question is, what do we do with the test results? If our attitude and answer to the first question of why we test is – this is a self-assessment to find out the strengths and weaknesses of our students so that we can best apply the resources to help them fulfil their potential; then what we do with the test results, the definition of success for that, is that we apply the correct resources, provide the correct pathways to the students that require the necessary help. It is not about going to a particular school that is deemed as most popular or most successful. If we take that attitude of what we do with the test results and that is about providing the correct pathways to give our children the best opportunity possible, then I think exams will be less stressful.”
“We want to do away with this incessant comparison on a relative scale to truly appreciate what the child is strong in and what the child may be weak at and we need to help the child with. The second is "How we test". I think many Members have spoken on this and we agree. Going forward, tests will be less and less based on rote memory. Instead, going forward, it will be about how our children can apply the concepts they have learnt to solve tomorrow's problems. 3.45 pm Coming from NTUC and MTI, I can speak on behalf of the employers. All progressive employers are less and less interested in how our students are able to solve yesterday's problems with yesterday's solution or even today's problems with yesterday's solutions. All our progressive employers are looking for our students to be able to solve tomorrow's problems with tomorrow's solutions. Which means that more and more of our tests must be geared towards helping our students to prepare, to apply their knowledge in solving tomorrow's problems in context. That does not mean that the tests will get easier. In fact, some people will think that tests by rote memory is easier. But that is not the skillset that we are looking for, as many Members have said. Today, with Google and the Internet, anyone can go onto the Internet to search for the information they require. The new skillset that is required is how we make sense of the plethora of information and combine them and create new solutions in context. So, that is how we test. Whether that is more or less stressful, it depends on our perspective again. The third question is, when we test. If we test too early, as many Members have said, then it might be detrimental to some of the late bloomers, it might be detrimental to some of our younger children.”
“I have given this very serious thought and I have listened very carefully to what Ms Denise Phua had said over the years. The fundamental issue is this: why are our exams stressful? Why? I have given a lot of thought about it. And I will perhaps sum it up in these four dimensions. Why are our exams stressful? We then have to ask ourselves: why do we test? How do we test? When do we test? And what do we do with the test results? If we are not clear on our answers to these four questions, then exams will always be stressful, never mind if it is PSLE or year-end exams. Let me start with "Why we test". If we see a test or an assessment as an opportunity for us to know ourselves better, to know our children better – where they stand, where they are strong at, where they are weak at – then this self-assessment should not be stressful. It is about surpassing ourselves rather than surpassing other people. But if we get this wrong, if the reason for testing is to compare with other people, on a relative scale, then, by definition, any test will be stressful. If the test is to sort people out according to their different abilities, with serious consequences for their career pathways, then it will be stressful. So, the first point I want to make is this. If we truly, truly want our exams to be less stressful, we need to re-orientate our perspective on why we test. And from MOE's perspective, we want all our assessments to be a feedback to our students and our parents on how their child is doing. It is how the individual child is doing vis-à-vis his previous self or her previous self, and not how he or she is doing vis-à-vis other students.”
“On Mr Darryl David's suggestion on having more mid-career teachers, indeed, we have a healthy pipeline of teachers who join us mid-career. Every week, I visit at least one or two schools and every time when I visit the schools, I will always ask about their prior experience. And just from my random sampling, I can see that we have a very healthy pipeline of people who are mid-careerists and decided to join the teaching service. As Mr Darryl David says, they do bring with them a wide spectrum of prior experiences that they can share with their fellow teachers and also the students. Having said that, I think we need it to be both ways, meaning that we need to recruit a fair share of mid-career teachers to enrich our portfolio of teaching experiences; at the same time, we must also enable our existing teachers in service to go out and build new connections and also to refresh themselves. As I have always mentioned, I have never seen any of my teachers who were afraid of hard work, but instead, I think, when they work hard, they want to feel that they themselves are growing, that they also have the development opportunities so that they can feel refreshed, they can feel recharged and, if they feel refreshed and recharged, then I am very confident they will continue to spread this spirit of lifelong learning, the spirit of inquiry to their students. So, we will continue to do that, both ways, to have more mid-career people coming into service and also to have more people in-service going out to have exposure. And this is particularly important for our Polytechnic and ITE lecturers. Mr Chairman, on the first question of PSLE, I must share what is on my mind.”
“Mr Chairman, with your permission, if I may take the second question first and then I will come back to the first question, which I will give a more elaborate reply.”
“Mr Chairman, to Mr Patrick Tay's first clarification, yes, indeed, we are closely monitoring the mental well-being of our educators and students, given the exceptional circumstances that we are in at this point in time. We do regular dipsticks. So, it is not just a one-time survey. We regularly monitor this and we have a certain baseline to see whether there are specific areas that we should be concerned with, not just in general for the whole teaching population, but also, very specifically, whether any particular schools or any particular group of educators might be facing a bit more stress than others. So, that is the assurance that we can give Mr Patrick Tay. To Mr Patrick Tay's second question about doing away with the mid-year examinations, what we will have – and, increasingly, we are doing this in all our schools – is a series of continuous assessments. In fact, when I first went to MOE, I asked my colleagues: what is the difference between an exam and a test or assessment? I learnt this new word and I understand what my professionals are doing. A continuous assessment examines our students' ability to apply what they have learnt based on various modules. When it comes to the year-end exam, we have this term called the "synoptic assessment", which is that they are able to pull together different parts of what they have learnt to answer different questions. So, it takes a much broader perspective. So, we will continue to have year-end exams where relevant and then we will couple that with continuous assessments module-by-module.”
“As I have stressed earlier, industry needs to work closely with our institutes for continual learning, provide learning opportunities for our students to prepare them for the workforce and transform themselves to create good jobs for our graduates. Companies which partner our institutions well will also have the first call to the next generation of talent, and this is a significant competitive advantage. Our fourth partner is our community. As they say, “it takes a village to raise a child.” In this spirit, we partner the community to support our students with higher needs, including through UPLIFT, ComLink and other efforts. But this is not all. All of us can contribute to this effort as well. For example, as school alumni, we can give back to our alma mater, by mentoring younger students and giving them career advice. Let us all acknowledge the support we received from the community and the opportunities we received from society. Therefore, it is also our responsibility to give back where we can, so others may benefit as we have, so that every generation of Singaporeans can aspire to do better than the previous generation. Only so will we continue to preserve education as an uplifting force for all Singaporeans. Chairman, may I have your permission for my MOE colleagues to elaborate on the various MOE policies please.”
“MOE and our partners, like SportSG, the National Arts Council and the National Instructors & Coaches Association, recognise the important role they play. We have platforms for regular engagements and have been working closely with them, including reviewing our procurement processes and contractual terms to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, and we will continue to do so. Our second group of partners are our parents. As Dr Tan Yia Swam said earlier, all of us want the best for our children. But our definition of success must evolve beyond just getting good grades in examinations. Let us help our children acquire skills based on their interests and strengths that will allow them to have a unique value proposition when they join the workforce. This strengthens their value proposition, our collective diversity and resilience. Let us work together to support the well-being and development of our children – not to chase after the marginal last mark, instil fear of failure, or excessively compare our children’s achievements with others. Let us help them surpass themselves throughout life, rather than just surpass others in an examination. MOE will continue to partner and support our parents. We will provide parenting resources and tips throughout our platforms and work closely with Parent Support Groups. Our partners, like the council members from COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools (COMPASS), have also initiated ground-up efforts to support parents. Minister of State Sun Xueling will elaborate. Our third partner will be our industry.”
“This will refresh their skill sets and keep their competencies at the frontier. Our educators have worked much harder and for much longer hours in the last two years. In MOE, we have a saying, "One cannot pour from an empty cup." Hence, we will continue to take care of our teachers' mental well-being and workload. Schools are committed to ensuring that workload remains manageable and we will continue to work towards all schools having Wellness Ambassadors. To strengthen the culture of care and peer support for our teachers, Staff Well-Being Committees will place more emphasis on the mental well-being of our teachers, with support from MOE headquarters. These efforts complement free in-house counselling services at iCARE and the free 24/7 whole-of-Government counselling hotline. 2.30 pm Mr Louis Ng also asked about teachers’ appraisal. We appreciate his concern for their well-being. Our teachers are driven by a strong sense of mission and responsibility for our students, and it shows in their work and attitude. Therefore, it is important for us to recognise and affirm deserving teachers, especially those who have gone beyond their call of duty, those who have excelled, and those who have set the pace for the fraternity. At the same time, we need to identify teachers who require more support, so that we can build and sustain an excellent workforce. Our appraisal system must, therefore, ensure consistency and fairness in the ranking of our educators. Mr Louis Ng can be assured that we are constantly updating our policies so that all our teachers can continue to have access to our training programmes and be guided to improve, to better nurture our students. We also hear Mr Edward Chia’s call to support instructors and coaches.”
“We have encouraged companies to recognise the skills and competencies of our Polytechnic and ITE graduates and invest in talent attraction and retention and also to invest in their workers' continued education. Good internship experiences and progression pathways are key to encouraging our students to join and stay in the sector they were trained for. Some of these initiatives were announced at the recent MCI's and MTI's Committees of Supply, such as the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) for ITE and Polytechnics Aliiance, and the Accelerated Pathways for Technicians & Assistant Engineers (Manufacturing) Grant. Chair, MOE cannot transform our education system by ourselves. We need and want to partner educators, parents, industry and our community to achieve this vision. First, our educators. Mr Darryl David, Dr Wan Rizal and Mr Louis Ng have spoken about them. To inspire our students, we need to inspire our teachers. To widen the exposure for our students, we need to widen the exposure for our teachers. To empower our teachers to steward change, we will partner with the people, public and private sectors so that teachers can take up more short-term attachments. Through the Teacher Work Attachment Plus programme, our teachers can broaden their perspectives, enhance their skills and build connections. Our teachers must then be able to grow and they must grow as they help our children grow. Many Polytechnic and ITE educators have prior working experiences from our industry. However, we also need to help them keep pace amidst the current fast changes in the industry. We will therefore send more Polytechnic and ITE educators for industry attachments and for more of them to have collaboration projects with our companies, including many SMEs.”
“We will support industry partners to develop in-house on-the-job training capabilities through the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning. Industry can also offer industry micro-credentials that are recognised by employers alongside our institutions' credentials. Two, ensuring that our institutions' faculty remain industry relevant. We must encourage faculty to gain industry-relevant knowledge and competencies and most importantly, to keep them current. Our institutions will ramp up industry engagement and attachment opportunities and hire faculty with industry experience to complement existing faculty. Three, collaborating with industry on research and innovation projects. We will provide additional support to our Centres engaging in Technology, Innovation and Enterprise activities in our Polytechnics and ITE. They can then partner more SMEs on innovation projects and that will allow our SMEs and companies to be a ready receptacle for our upgraded workers and upgraded students. Our companies also need to take ownership of this transformation because transforming themselves to attract, retain and upskill local talent is an important piece of this jigsaw puzzle. Over the past year, MOE, MTI, and MOM initiated efforts with industry leaders, unions and other Government agencies, and educators to strengthen the employability and career prospects of our Polytechnic and ITE graduates in the future economy. We looked into raising the quantity and quality of internships and on-the-job upskilling opportunities for our students, starting with sectors like Manufacturing, Built environment, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Retail and Food Services. We have developed strategies to promote access to jobs with good career prospects.”
“To cater to more diverse learners, our institutions need to review their programmes. Adults' learning needs, commitments and prior experiences differ from our younger learners. This means improving andragogy, or adult education by using technology to make learning accessible and achievable and making learning bite-sized and on-the-go based on their existing skills foundation. For instance, SUSS's flexible, modular and applied curriculum, accompanied by online provisions, caters well to adult learners. The curriculum is taught by a mix of SUSS full-time and associate faculty, many of whom are industry practitioners. It is supported by learning analytics to tailor learning to individual students. New pathways are also being created, like SIT's new Competency-based Workplace Learning Pathway. Skills and competencies acquired through prior work experience also count towards the graduating requirements. This brings the university to the workplace. All our institutions also offer stackable pathways for learners to take bite-sized modules that count towards a full qualification. This gives our adult learners more flexibility to juggle work, study and family responsibilities. Second, we need a stronger nexus between our institutions and industry, as Ms Mariam Jaafar suggested. Industry and workforce transformation must go hand-in-hand. Our institutions need to do so in three ways. First, partnering industry to provide more workplace learning opportunities. For example, internships, job-shadowing or work-study programmes. By 2025, work-study programmes will be a mainstream pathway catering to 12% of each cohort, up from 4% today.”
“Beyond these moves, MOE, MTI, MOM and MOF are studying how we can enhance the structural support for Singaporeans in their mid-forties and fifties who may need significant reskilling to provide a second wind to their careers. Regardless if our workers are looking to switch industries or jobs, they recognise that their current jobs need upgraded skills to keep pace with evolving business models and technologies. Reskilling can help them to keep up with the changes and remain employable. We will take a holistic review of the accessibility and the different support that adult learners need, to help every Singaporean enhance their career resilience by refreshing their skills throughout life. Chair, we need to strengthen and transform our higher education and training ecosystem. Rather than simply ramping up quantity, we must also enhance quality and accessibility. We must accelerate the transformation of our training to better cater to adult learners, leveraging on technology to enable every individual to learn at their own pace, anytime and anywhere. We will improve how we reach out to individuals and support their upskilling as they pursue their career goals through new partnerships with companies, trade associations and chambers and of course, our unions. All three pillars of our ecosystem, our institutes for continual learning, private training providers and employers, all must pull together in the same direction. Let me elaborate. First, our Institutes of Higher Learning must grow into institutes for continual learning. While the number of adult learners trained by our institutions has more than doubled from around 165,000 in 2018 to 345,000 in 2020, we can expect this number to go up further.”
“This ties in with major efforts to transform our economy. The refresh of the Industry Transformation Maps (ITM) aims to create more good jobs for Singaporeans. With more and better job opportunities for degree holders, we will study increasing the "lifetime cohort participation rate". This will provide more opportunities for working adults to pursue a degree at a suitable point in their life and support key growth areas in our economy. MOE, together with MTI and MOM, will further study the mix of the increase in places to better cater to the needs of our learners and the economy. Beyond expanding degree places, we need other ways to strengthen support for our mid-career workers, especially those in their forties and fifties. They are more vulnerable to retrenchment and long-term unemployment and need greater support to pivot to new job roles. This structural change is here to stay post-pandemic. During the pandemic, to help mid-career individuals move to new sectors or job roles, we introduced the SGUnited Skills (SGUS) and SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways – Company Training (SGUP-CT) programmes. We will bring these programmes to a close and transit to a new SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP). This will be a permanent feature of our training and placement ecosystem. Courses under SCTP will be highly subsidised. The SCTP will support the career transition needs of Singaporeans, with industry-relevant training involving potential employers, and employment facilitation into sectors with good hiring opportunities. Minister of State Gan Siow Huang will elaborate later.”
“But now, firms and workers face greater disruption and faster skills obsolescence. Therefore, upfront investment is necessary but insufficient. On the other hand, beyond paper qualifications, those with the relevant skills, who can take advantage of the new technologies, will benefit the most. Therein lies our challenge and opportunity. Therefore, we will need to seriously intensify efforts on continual learning throughout life, as Mr Yip Hon Weng and Ms Mariam Jaafar mentioned. The Government started SkillsFuture seven years ago. In 2021, we spent nearly $1.2 billion in skills training for our workforce. This is 40% more than 2019 and it excludes spending on COVID-19-related programmes. We will do more to support Singaporeans to achieve greater career resilience and job mobility through a major investment in skills refresh. This will be the next needle-mover for the competitiveness of our people beyond their first work-ready qualification. This will become a key pillar of our social compact with Singaporeans we will invest in every Singaporean not just in school but throughout life. We are focusing on two areas: providing more opportunities for our people to pursue a degree or diploma, especially as working adults, and enhancing structural support for mid-career reskilling. Today, we have a 40% cohort participation rate target for subsidised university places for fresh school leavers and an additional 10% allowance for adult learners. As we increasingly move towards interspersing working and learning throughout life, we should look beyond the proportion of each cohort that goes to university before starting work. We should focus instead on ensuring that Singaporeans can upskill continually according to their needs and aspirations.”
“Every student should learn their Mother Tongue to as high a level as possible. Hence, we have a range of Mother Tongue Language special programmes, like the Language Elective Programme (LEP), which we have expanded to our secondary schools in 2020. It allows those strong in their Mother Tongue to learn it at a higher level and nurture their interest in literature and culture. The Elective Programme in Malay Language for Secondary Schools (EMAS) is another example. EMAS is offered at three host schools today. We will expand EMAS to a fourth host centre, Raffles Institution, from 2023 so that more students can access it, including students from other nearby schools. Students with a strong proficiency in the Malay language can develop their interest for the Malay language and culture. Across the system, we continue to pay special attention to students with greater needs. They too must have the opportunities and resilience to overcome challenges and do well in life. Our philosophy is this: no student should be held back from their dreams and aspirations because of his or her starting circumstances. So, we will press on with UPLIFT in schools, ITE and the Polytechnics to support students with Special Educational Needs and to support the mental well-being of our students. My MOE colleagues will elaborate. Chair, this is our social compact – to continually invest in our people, enable every Singaporean to develop to their fullest potential regardless of their starting point and to partake in the country's growth so that we can strive towards a fairer and more inclusive society. Previously, we have focused on investing in the first 20 to 25 years of our people's lives. On average, we spend a quarter of a million dollars on each child to prepare him or her for their first job.”
“Its recommendations include providing students with greater flexibility in their pathways and supporting them in navigating these pathways, enhancing their career readiness and resilience for the future economy and equipping them with life skills and expanding opportunities for deeper industry exposure. The Second Minister for Education will update more later. We must also help our students to be curious about the world. Around two-thirds of our schools have established partnerships with their overseas counterparts. Building on this, we want every school to have an overseas partnership. This facilitates more student exchanges, so that students can broaden their horizons and learn about different cultures. While the exchanges have been virtual for now, because of COVID-19, technology allows our students and their overseas peers to still learn, play and celebrate special occasions together. 2.15 pm In this same spirit, our IHLs will continue to work towards the 70 by 70 target disrupted by COVID-19 – 70% of all students will have an overseas experience, of which 70% will be in ASEAN countries, China and India. Chair, we will give our students greater confidence to venture beyond Singapore. We will pilot a modular Third Language programme so that more Secondary school students can learn new languages and discover other cultures. Starting with one or two of our existing Third Language offerings, students can pick up the language from different starting points or at different levels and build their proficiency and "stack" modules towards a certificate. At the same time, our students must have a sense of rootedness and identity. As Dr Wan Rizal said, our bilingual ability helps us to navigate across cultures.”
“Beyond that, schools decide when to start and end, based on factors like their unique needs, student profiles and the local transport situation. For example, Junyuan Secondary School starts at 8.30 am twice a week and 8.00 am the other three days, and Junyuan Secondary is not the only school that has different start times. We will also adjust post-secondary admissions, to better recognise students’ individual strengths. First, we will expand the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) and relax selected grade requirements for entry from Academic Year 2024. A wider group of learner profiles can benefit from a practice-based preparatory pathway to the polytechnics, while still ensuring that students can cope with the rigour. We expect another 200 students every year to benefit, in addition to the 1,500 today. We will continue to review admissions for other pathways to better recognise the different subject levels under Full SBB. Next, we will expand Direct School Admission (DSA) for Government and Government-aided Junior Colleges (JCs). Starting from 2022, these JCs can admit up to 20% of their non-Integrated Programme intake through DSA, up from 10% today. This recognises other forms of merit beyond academic grades. Our efforts to customise education continue after Secondary school. Last year, Second Minister for Education Dr Maliki Osman led the Review of Opportunities and Pathways in Applied Education. The review aims to enhance Polytechnic and ITE education to support our students’ diverse strengths and aspirations.”
“Those who are strong in a subject may take it at a more demanding level, while those who find it difficult to cope with a subject may offer it at a less demanding level, based on their school’s guidance. We will also shift away from course-based subject offerings under Full SBB. For example, students currently in Express and Normal (Academic) courses who face exceptional difficulties with Mother Tongue Language (MTL) learning may take MTL "B". With Full SBB, they can now study MTL at a level that better meets their learning needs – whether G1 or G2. We will thus discontinue MTL "B" from the 2024 Secondary 1 cohort. MOE will provide more details later in the year on other curriculum changes that accompany Full SBB. To allow more students to benefit, MOE will extend Full SBB to more schools. Crescent Girls’ School, Tanjong Katong Girls’ School and Tanjong Katong Secondary School currently admit only students in the Express stream. From 2024, they will go on board Full SBB and admit a wider range of students, including students taking mainly G2 subjects. Students of more diverse learning profiles can then benefit from these schools’ distinctive programmes. Full SBB represents a major shift to customise learning to each student according to their strengths. However, I must say, Full SBB does require more resources. It entails more complex coordination of timetables and requires our teachers to adapt their teaching methods for a wider range of students. Customisation also means giving schools the flexibility to best support their students' needs. Assoc Prof Jamus Lim spoke on later school start times. In MOE, we have a simple baseline – schools are not to start before 7.30 am.”
“We will continue to look at ways to enhance the diversity of our school landscape. But there are some fundamental principles we must always maintain: to provide quality and holistic education for every child, no matter their learning profile; to give opportunities for children of different backgrounds to mix with one another to strengthen our social cohesion; and to ensure equity and fairness in admissions and posting. In line with these principles, we will expand Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB) for more porous and diverse educational pathways and encourage students to take greater ownership of their education journey. Mr Baey Yam Keng has asked for an update. Our Full SBB pilot started in 2020. In the pilot schools, students taking different courses come together in mixed form classes. They take six subjects at the common level, which is one-third of curriculum time and other subjects at different levels. The experiences from the pilot gives us confidence that we are on the right track. Students have made more friends across courses, learnt new perspectives and learnt how to relate better to their peers from different backgrounds. And they have become more confident in themselves and of their abilities. From 2024, we will remove streaming totally. In Secondary schools, students will be grouped in mixed form classes. Students can choose to take different subjects at different subject levels, suited to their pace of learning. These subject levels, known as G for General: G1, G2 and G3. They are broadly mapped from today’s Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) standards. There will be greater subject-level flexibility.”
“Any one standard curriculum will necessarily not be able to meet the diverse learning needs of our students. Any "average curriculum" will necessarily mean that many students will be overstretched while others are under-stretched. Hence, we must have a range of options to cater to our students' diverse abilities and learning needs. Our teachers must have the ability to pick and choose from a menu of options and customise them to suit the diverse and respective needs of their students. These moves seek to bring about a cultural shift: where our students learn holistically and master skills, driven by intrinsic motivation and future relevance, and not be distracted by incessant comparison with others. Chair, next, we want to customise education as much as possible to bring out the best in every child. We will give students more agency in their learning. Regular Home-Based Learning will be implemented for all Secondary and pre-university students by end-2022. This lets students take ownership of their learning at their own pace. Students will also have dedicated time and space to pursue their own interests outside the curriculum through Student-Initiated Learning. And we are studying how technology can further customise learning to help teachers provide feedback, track students’ learning progress, and we will also explore the use of adaptive learning systems to tailor learning to our students’ needs. We thank Ms Denise Phua and Ms Hazel Poa for suggesting a through-train system for Primary to Secondary school education. Ms Denise Phua has raised this idea for some time. The PSLE remains a useful checkpoint for our students and parents. We made significant changes to the PSLE scoring system last year, to broaden emphasis beyond academic results.”
“We are updating the Nurturing Early Learners Framework to guide our preschool educators, to incorporate social and emotional skills even more prominently and emphasise core values of respect, responsibility, care, and honesty from young. As they progress through our schools, we build on these fundamentals by giving our students greater confidence in themselves and of their abilities, with more opportunities to explore their interests and cultivate their curiosity, so that they are unafraid to try. And if they fail, they pick themselves up and try again. We cannot shield our children from all uncertainties and the imperfections of this world, nor should that be our aim. But we certainly can and want to equip them with the skills to manage the uncertainties and navigate the imperfections. This means creating time and space for our students to develop the life skills they need for success, including the ability to deal with failure, inventive thinking, adaptability and cross-cultural skills that Mr Darryl David and Mr Lim Biow Chuan raised. Over the past few years, we removed mid-year examinations for Primary 3, Primary 5, Secondary 1 and Secondary 3. We saw the positive impact. Schools and teachers can better pace and deepen students’ learning. They use ongoing assessments to identify what students have mastered and the areas they have difficulties with. Students also focus more on their learning and less on marks. We will build on these gains, by removing mid-year examinations for all Primary and Secondary levels by 2023. This frees up more time across all levels for self-directed learning and development of 21st Century Competencies. We are also reviewing curriculum content and assessment demand.”
“Finally, we must be confident in our contributions to our society, to future generations and to the world. Second, a competitive Singapore. This comes from our speed of evolution and our superior connectivity. Evolution speed depends on us quickly learning, unlearning and relearning, so that we can combine and recombine ideas and knowledge to always create something new and relevant. Superior connectivity enables us to go beyond geography and size, with the world as our hinterland and market. By connectivity, I refer not just to the physical dimensions of air, land and sea, not even the non-physical dimensions of data, finance, rules and technology; but also of ideas, cultures and values. As the world threatens to fragment, we connect and value add. This connectivity is our special, man-made competitive advantage. Third, a cohesive society. We distinguish ourselves as a nation that celebrates our diverse roots while forging a shared identity with a set of shared values. Our diversity unites, rather than divides. It is the substrate upon which our new ideas grow. Therefore, Chair, we will take a life course approach to education. “MOE for schools" must become “MOE for life”. We begin by giving every child a good start in life. The early years set the foundation for heathy and balanced development for our children. We have invested in many quality and affordable preschools, where our children can enjoy and learn through play, develop early literacy and numeracy, as well as social and emotional skills, ask questions and explore their interests, and most importantly – ignite their innate curiosity.”
“The Internet has increased access to information but algorithms on social media can also skew the information that we are exposed to. They cater to our preferences and amplify our biases. Our youths are not just Singaporeans, but also digital natives. Technology and social media have allowed them to stay connected and organise around meaningful causes. But it is also easier to compare themselves with their classmates and friends, as well as anyone else in the world online. This has an impact on their sense of identity and self-confidence. We have seen other societies with longer histories fracture, as the values and aspirations of their people diverge. We are a young nation. Our challenges cannot be any less. The definition of success for our education system must then evolve. It must enable every Singaporean to do justice to their own set of gifts; constantly seeking to surpass themselves both individually and as a team, rather than just surpassing others; contributing towards a better future for the wider community, to Singapore and to the world. Chair, our vision of our education system has three elements: to develop confident Singaporeans; to build a competitive Singapore; and to forge a cohesive society. Let me start with the first – confident Singaporeans. Confidence starts from understanding our own strengths and interests. This starts from school. Then, confidence comes from knowing that we have multiple pathways that give our people lifelong opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills for success through life. We must also have confidence in our values and solutions, that we have the will and the means to chart our own destiny with our own solutions for our own context.”
“Chairman, we thank Members for their suggestions and the support for our education system and especially our educators. Let us also thank our educators on the frontline. In the past two years of COVID-19 disruptions, they have taken on additional workload and have gone beyond the call of duty to keep our children safe, our schools open and our learning undisrupted. 2.00 pm COVID-19 has accelerated many trends and heightened the need to evolve our education system urgently. Mr Patrick Tay and Ms Denise Phua also spoke about the future trends of education. We aim to emerge stronger from this pandemic. We will not waste the opportunities that have arisen from this crisis. We will lock in the gains from the disruptions to distinguish ourselves for the long term. Chair, three driving forces shape our education system. First, technology and business cycles have become more compressed. Workers now take on multiple jobs in their lifetime and need to be reskilled regularly to remain relevant. How fast we evolve our skills, products and services will determine our competitive advantage, both as individuals and as a nation, much more than our population base or our resources. Second, the world is becoming polarised and fragmented, even as we grow more inter-connected and inter-dependent. The geopolitical environment has become more volatile. Competition of ideas and values, contestation of ideologies and influence. Both will intensify. Countries that cannot create relevance for themselves will have to worry about having to choose sides. Yet, there are opportunities for those that can value-add and play the role of a connector to transcend these fault lines. Third, our social fabric is evolving. Our people have more diverse aspirations and perspectives.”
“In the past five years, the annual resignation rate for teachers has remained low and stable at around 2% a year.”
“In 2018, our internal survey was focused on measuring specific components in teachers' workload. In subsequent years, our surveys had a more comprehensive coverage on teachers' workload. In 2020, due to disruptions caused by the circuit breaker, we did not conduct the typical workload survey. Instead, we conducted a series of polls to regularly monitor teachers' sentiments and morale during the pandemic. We, therefore, do not have comparable data for 2018 and 2020. Nevertheless, comparing the data from the 2019 and 2021 surveys, the average workload has gone up slightly from about 51 hours to about 53 hours per week during term time.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, any new voting arrangements will need to provide balance between greater voting accessibility and convenience for voters with ensuring the integrity of the voting process and secrecy of the vote. ELD expects to engage the public and key stakeholders, such as the political parties, nursing homes and overseas Singaporeans, on the possibility of piloting these initiatives sometime in the middle of this year.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on behalf of the Prime Minister, please. The 2020 General Election, or GE2020, which was held amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted two key issues in the electoral landscape. First, the electorate is ageing rapidly: 21% of Singapore Citizens in the Registers of Electors were aged 65 and above in GE2020, from 14% in GE2011. Second, from time to time, travel difficulties, such as in this pandemic, would make it difficult for Singaporeans working, studying or living overseas, to vote. In spite of the challenges of the pandemic, 6,500 overseas citizens registered to vote in GE2020, from just 3,500 in GE2011. We recognise that many overseas Singaporeans remain engaged with Singapore and are keen to exercise their vote. As the Member noted, the Elections Department, or ELD, made a special arrangement at GE2020 to allow voters serving Stay-Home Notice at designated hotels to cast their votes. ELD is looking at piloting this arrangement for voters residing at some nursing homes. With this in place, there will no longer be a need for nursing homes to bring their elderly voters staying with them to the polling stations to vote. For overseas Singaporeans, ELD had established overseas polling stations for them to cast their vote. This is because voting by paper ballot at polling stations remains the most transparent and secure method of voting that best ensures the integrity of the voting process and secrecy of votes. However, ELD recognises that it may not be possible for various reasons, for some overseas Singaporeans to travel to these overseas polling stations to vote. ELD is thus studying if we can introduce postal voting and allow overseas Singaporeans to mail in their votes.”
“This is how we flexibly configure our organisations in order to meet the needs of our people. So, it is not a "stove-pipe" mindset that we adopt, going into how we structure an organisation. But having said that, we will be the first to admit that, as circumstances change and evolve, we will continue to evolve our organisations and structures to best meet today's needs and also to anticipate tomorrow's challenges and we will continue to do this. Let me, finally, say this. I will be the first one to say that the Public Service is not perfect. We are constantly guarding against complacency and we constantly want to do better for Singapore and Singaporeans. We will never be complacent. We will constantly check our blind spots, take in the best ideas from within this Chamber, from the Public Service itself and from people and organisations beyond the Public Service. Because our goal is to make sure that we have a Public Service that Singaporeans can be proud of and that can do justice to the potential of Singapore and Singaporeans. We will continue to work on that basis to adjust and adapt flexibly according to the circumstances. On that note, I would like to thank all the Members for your various suggestions. If you have other suggestions on how we can do better as a Public Service, we welcome your suggestions and we will certainly look into them.”
“But a more important point that Mr Leong Mun Wai asked is: what is the purpose of the People's Association (PA)? The role of the PA is to help us build up our social capital in peacetime. It serves the government of the day. For example, during the COVID-19 crisis, where did we get the extra capacity to reach out to do our vaccination operations, to distribute the masks, to distribute the sanitisers? Where did we get the people to go and reach out to the people who are in isolation in their homes? We did not depend just on the PA staff. There are only about 2,000 PA staff but there are many volunteers that we mobilised to come together. Without these capabilities and capacities, I am not sure that we will be able to achieve the various things that we have been able to achieve during our crisis operations to manage the ongoing COVID-19 situation. So, for these two years, what we have built up, assiduously, over peacetime – these social bonds, this trust, this deep network – to help our people and reach out, have been invaluable to Singapore. And that is not something that many other countries have because perhaps, many other countries take it for granted that the social bonds will be there. In fact, Mr Leong Mun Wai might also like to know that PA works very closely with MCCY. In fact, the CED of PA works very closely with the Permanent Secretary of MCCY – their budgets come together. On Mr Leong Mun Wai's suggestions about having the MOE work with MSF seamlessly, I would also like to inform Mr Leong that I have been involved in this effort on both sides. Why is ECDA an agency that is reporting to both MOE and MSF? Because ECDA performs the role of taking care of the preschool children with both the education component by MOE and the care component by MSF.”
“Last but not least, in a crisis like COVID-19, what we have demonstrated is that we depend not just on the whole-of-Government capacity. In fact, we depend on the whole-of-nation capacity when our public officers have to go forth and make the adjustments for the crisis management operations. They bring in organisations, volunteers beyond the Public Service and that helps to add to our Public Service capacities and capabilities. And that is why, to this end, I want to further this connection between the Public Service and the sector and organisations beyond the Public Service. That is why, from this year onwards, every public officer will be able to use up to 40 hours a year to participate in developmental activities with the private, social and non-profit organisations. These opportunities can be made available by the Public Service Division and other agencies, or self-sourced opportunities, as long as the activities are developmental and do not lead to any conflict of interests. On Mr Leong Mun Wai's point to streamline the Government organisations, perhaps, I would like to let Mr Leong Mun Wai know that, indeed, we have already done many of the things that he suggested. Where it is logical, we bring services and facilities together. Good examples of this include the Heartbeat@Bedok and Our Tampines Hub. Where it is logical and saves us money and resources, we bring different agencies under one roof so that we can save money for our country and save manpower. On the other hand, we also have an asset-light model. For example, in the new generation of CCs, like the one in Potong Pasir and the upcoming Woodleigh development, we have integrated the CCs with the commercial developments so that we can operate with an asset-light model.”
“We will continue to look for more opportunities for this porosity of exchanges, so that we can get the best ideas from the public sector, the people sector and elsewhere beyond the Public Service, including international organisations. Within the public sector itself, we also want to make sure our officers – even if they are performing the same function in different agencies – get opportunities to be posted across to different agencies because, even within the same functional areas, no two agencies perform the function in exactly the same way and we can, of course, learn from one another. Beyond this, we want to make sure that as we go forward in the way we govern, we will work closely and closer with the organisations beyond the public sector. We want to broaden our connections with the organisations beyond the public sector. We want to tap on their capacities and capabilities. And this is how we are also executing our plans to manage COVID-19. Therefore, starting from this year, we will allow each public officer to use up to 40 hours a year to participate in developmental activities with the private, social and non-profit organisations. And why do we do this? We do this for a very simple reason. We want our public officers to, first, deeply understand the partners that they are working with so that when they make the rules and regulations, they have a deep understanding of the people and organisations that they are serving. The second reason for us to do this is because we want our public officers to make sure that they continue to learn from the sectors and organisations beyond the Public Service, and bring back new ideas, bring back new connections, to enrich the Public Service.”
“Going forward, we will extend the pilot to establish more ServiceSG Centres within Community Centres (CCs). The first of two such ServiceSG Centres have opened in Nee Soon Central and Kampong Chai Chee CCs. Likewise, for businesses, we have developed the one-stop GoBusiness portal to provide easy-to-use, seamless and relevant services, as well as create a more pro-business environment. Developed by MTI and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG), GoBusiness allows users to access information of over 300 Government-to-Business e-services. This year, business owners can expect a new GoBusiness dashboard that will allow them to track their licence applications and access various e-Advisers for recommendations on grants and other services. On Mr Melvin Yong's point about developing the competencies of our public officers, that is, indeed, one of our focuses going forward, especially when our public officers have a longer career working lifespan. There are various things that we intend to do for our public officers for their career development, in order to build up their capabilities. We intend to have greater porosity among the public sector, people and private sectors. But within the public sector itself, we also intend to have greater porosity among different agencies. Let me explain how we intend to do this. The Talent Attachment Programme (TAP) has been expanded. In fact, over the last year, we have almost doubled the number of people who have gone on a Talent Attachment Programme (TAP). These are programmes that allow our public officers to be attached to organisations outside the Public Service, so that they can establish the connections, bring back new ideas for us in the Public Service.”
“Perhaps, I would just like to give some examples of how the Public Service has done over the last few years. The first example of how we have tried to do better and use our resources more efficiently is from GovTech. The GoWhere platform supports our location- and eligibility-based queries. As part of our COVID-19 response, the Public Service agencies use GoWhere as a channel to provide citizens with the locations of key services, starting with the collection of masks via Mask GoWhere in 2020. Since then, we have expanded to cover 16 Government initiatives today, including the recent CDC Vouchers Merchants GoWhere. Another example is our establishment of the Centres of Excellence, or what we called CentExs, by leveraging on the agencies with critical science, technology and engineering experience to build deep technical expertise and pool specialised resources across the Public Service. For example, JTC is designated as the Centre of Excellence (CentExs) for facilities management and is progressively consolidating the facility management contracts for public sector-owned buildings under one integrated contract. JTC also provides its expertise to guide the various agencies on how to structure those contracts in order for us to get value-for-money. A third example would be how we are bringing together more services under our Integrated Public Service Centres, or what we called ServiceSG Centres now, which has integrated and delivered a wide range of public services across different agencies under one roof. Since 2018, the Centre at Our Tampines Hub has expanded to provide 400 services across 19 agencies for our citizens. Citizens can now also conduct video conferences with officers from different agencies in one place.”
“Chairman, let me first thank the various Members for their useful suggestions and concerns for the Public Service. I would also like to thank all my public officers for all the hard work that they have done over the last two years, in particular. I am sure Members of the House will agree with me that, over the last two years, the Public Service has really pulled together to do three things concurrently and to do three things well. 5.15 pm First, to maintain our current operations to make sure that all our services to our people and our country continue to run smoothly amidst the crisis. Second, to run crisis operations, we had to invent on the fly many of the new things that we had to do to cope with the ever-evolving virus situation. To this end, we had to even cross-deploy officers to new roles. In fact, a few thousand officers from the Public Service have been cross-deployed to different positions beyond their previous normal duties in order to help out and manage the crisis and they continue to do this even as we speak. Third, our public officers continue to plan for the future. That, notwithstanding the crisis and the current operations, we established those conditions for us to emerge stronger and to distinguish ourselves. For all these reasons of running the three – current operations, crisis operations and future operations – I would like to thank all my public officers for all the hard work and determination. Mr Chairman, we have heard various suggestions on how the Public Service can do better. Indeed, we agree with the Members that we not rest on our laurels. The Public Service is always looking for better ways to make sure that we can use our finite resources and manpower.”
“For the past three years, the annual percentage of students who have missed at least 10% of school days is about one per cent of primary school students and two per cent of secondary school students. This does not include those absent for medical and other valid reasons. Amongst these students, slightly over half are from 1 to 3-room HDB flats. All schools have a system to monitor and support absent students. Through the UPLIFT (Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce) initiative, schools work with community partners to support the students and their families to reduce the risk of absenteeism.”
“The Public Service proactively seeks feedback from public officers in a number of ways, including through employee engagement surveys, regular pulse surveys, and engagement sessions such as townhalls, dialogues and focus group discussions. We will take in the feedback and make improvements, or launch new interventions to address the aspirations as well as concerns of our officers. We will also communicate these through various internal communications channels both at the whole of public service, as well as at the agency levels. Public officers can, and also do, send in feedback to agencies through their human resource divisions or existing quality service contact channels. This includes sending feedback to the quality service manager of the Public Service Division (PSD). The agencies and PSD will follow up to address and clarify their queries, or look into issues or cases surfaced by public officers. For the feedback or queries sent to PSD, we will close the loop with the officers directly, or work with their agencies to provide the responses. There are also internal processes in place at both the agency and whole of public service levels, for officers to report wrongful practices or raise workplace concerns, as well as structured processes to look into these concerns and address them. The Public Service continues to look into new ways to engage and obtain feedback from officers, as part of our efforts to maintain a culture of transparency and constant improvement in the service.”
“The Public Service places great importance on public feedback and has a set of whole-of-Government service standards in place to ensure agencies uphold a consistent and satisfactory level of service. Every Ministry and Statutory Board is required to appoint a Quality Service Manager (QSM) of a senior level to ensure that the QSM can provide the necessary leadership and ensure that feedback is adequately and properly reviewed within the agency. The response time depends on the nature and complexity of the enquiry or the feedback received. For straightforward enquiries and feedback, both Ministries and Statutory Boards are given guidance to resolve and respond within three working days. For complex issues that require further assessment and fact-finding such as making site inspections or coordinating with more than one agency, agencies are given guidance to provide a reply within three weeks. If a solution cannot be provided, agencies should explain why the issue requires further study and be transparent with the plan of action. Agencies are also required to send interim replies if they are unable to respond within the time communicated.”
“They also learn that their sense of worth does not need to depend on external affirmation, but can be anchored on their understanding of themselves and their intrinsic qualities.”
“Schools measure the height and weight of students twice a year to monitor their physical development, using Body Mass Index (BMI)-for-Age norms set out by the Health Promotion Board (HPB). Following the measurements, students outside the healthy range for physical growth are supported by the school to focus on healthier behaviours using strategies such as journaling, goal setting and action planning in physical activities and nutrition to bring about gradual improvement in BMI. Severely overweight and severely underweight students are referred to the HPB's Student Health Centre (SHC) for medical assessment and counselling. Schools recognise the importance of working with parents to enhance their child's holistic development and well-being. Hence, schools may reflect many indicators, not just academic indicators, but also conduct, attendance, CCA records, physical fitness test results and BMI weight indicator in the Holistic Development Profile report to inform students, update and seek their parents' support in reinforcing the holistic development of their children at home. Our schools adopt a holistic health promotion approach to improve the overall well-being of students, and to encourage them to lead an active and healthy lifestyle. Through physical education lessons, students are taught good health habits such as healthy eating, and regular participation in sports and exercise to lead an active lifestyle. Our Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum equips students with age-appropriate knowledge and skills to help them build positive body image and healthy self-esteem. Students learn to appreciate their strengths and understand the developmental changes that they experience as they grow.”
“The Autonomous Universities (AUs) regularly engage their student and staff communities on their well-being, including on the availability of food and beverage (F&B) options. To ensure there are sufficient food options to meet the different needs of students and staff, the AUs require both halal-certified and vegetarian options to be included in tender bids submitted by prospective food court operators. The decisions taken by F&B tenants are also driven by business viability considerations. In some circumstances, this may affect the mix of F&B options on AU campuses. Where this is the case, the AUs will source for replacement operators and work closely with their campus community to provide other options, such as through food delivery apps, or by providing free internal shuttle bus services to enhance access to F&B options across the campus. The AUs will continue to work with their communities to help ensure there are enough food options on campus to cater to different dietary needs.”