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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“All our schools also provide students with opportunities to interact with others from different backgrounds, including between schools and with the community, such as through co-curricular activities, values-in-action projects, and cluster-based activities and competitions. Taken together, our approach strikes a balance to ensure that each student can access schools best suited to their learning needs, while having opportunities to interact with others from different backgrounds.”
“Our secondary schools are set up to cater to the diverse learning needs of our students. Admission is thus based on students’ choices and their academic and non-academic profiles. We have a diverse education landscape so that students can access schools that are best suited to their own aptitudes, interests and learning needs. The majority of our secondary schools offer all three academic courses. At the same time, some schools offer specialised programmes for specific learner profiles – for example Specialised Schools offering practice-oriented, hands-on learning, the six-year Integrated Programme offering a more unstructured and broader academic experience, and specialised schools that cater to specific interests in sports, arts and STEM. Admissions at Secondary 1 is determined by the combination of students’ choices and their PSLE Scores or the Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise. This enables students to be placed in a school that is suited to their aptitude and ability. As different schools cater to different student profiles, not every school will reflect the same demographic profile. What is important is to ensure that schools remain open to students of all backgrounds, and for students from all schools to have the opportunities to interact with those from different backgrounds. To do so, we offer bursaries and scholarships to ensure school fees are affordable for all, and have measures that ensure good access to schools, such as the DSA as well as reserving 20% of places for each course in every secondary school for students without affiliation.”
“Out of the total enrolment in our government and government-aided schools, around 9% are permanent residents and 4% are international students. A very small minority of these students have at least one Singaporean parent. While these students, being non-citizens, do not have access to the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme, they can approach their schools for assistance if needed. MOE will assess their situation and extend support on a case-by-case basis. There are currently about 400 such students being provided with such support.”
“MOE consciously ensures that we minimise loss of curriculum time and minimise inconvenience for parents without alternative caregiving arrangements. Aside from 12 weeks of school holidays per year, primary school students are notified in advance and do not report to school for another 12 days for PSLE marking, PSLE Oral and Listening Comprehension Examinations, school exam results processing and significant school events such as parent-teachers conference. Schools may dismiss students earlier on the eve of events such as National Day and Children’s Day. There are four such events in a year. For all these days, school-based student care centres remain open for students.”
“All Approved Education Institutions under the CPF Education Loan Scheme are covered by MOE’s Tuition Fee Loan Scheme, with the exception of our publicly-funded arts institutions, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LASALLE College of the Arts. MOE has been considering the extension of the Tuition Fee Loan Scheme to the two arts institutions. In the meantime, Singaporean students from these institutions who need financial assistance can continue to access Government bursaries as well as financial aid offered by these institutions.”
“Nonetheless, physical schooling for Primary school students resumed in phases from 11 October (Monday) to better support their socio-emotional well-being. In addition, to further support the well-being of younger students who may not learn as effectively during HBL and allow more time for curriculum recovery due to disruptions brought about by COVID-19, the 2021 year-end examinations for Primary 3 and 4 students were cancelled. We will continue to calibrate the pace we resume activities in schools based on the prevailing COVID-19 situation and national posture.”
“MOE’s approach has always been to keep schools safe so that they can remain open as far as possible. We recognise that home-based learning (HBL) cannot be a full substitute for the school-based learning experience. During HBL, students are also less able to tap on their peers for support or take part in other activities, such as in-person Co-curricular Activities (CCAs), which are important for their holistic development. Schools mitigate the impact of HBL by leveraging technology to maintain social connections and minimise disruption to curriculum coverage. Teachers used online platforms and resources to conduct regular check-ins with students to monitor their well-being and to ensure continuity in their learning. Schools also remained open for high needs students and those without alternative care-giving arrangements during HBL. As we transit to living with COVID-19, our aim is to minimise HBL while safely resuming as many aspects of normal school life as we can. We will do so for students from Secondary schools and above first, given their high vaccination rates. Throughout the Stabilisation Phase, school-based learning continued for these older students under strict safe management measures (SMMs). After the national situation stabilises, a gradual return to normalcy may include resuming CCAs and larger school events first, with a view to allowing students to participate in important inter-school events next year, such as the National School Games. Since most of our Primary school students are not age-eligible for vaccination, we had placed all Primary schools on HBL from 27 September to 7 October 20211 as an additional precautionary measure.”
“This also means that the monthly season rates typically translate to a fairly reasonable pricing, which is certainly the case for school season parking, as compared to alternative time-based parking options at nearby public carparks.”
“Let me first clarify a possible misperception that our teachers do not come to school during periods of home-based learning (HBL). Even during HBL, some of our teachers continue to return to schools, to support and care for high needs students who still come to school. Others are also allowed to come back to schools if this is more convenient for them to conduct their HBL lessons or to prepare lessons for our students. I thank all our educators for their dedication to their mission and call of duty and for their quick adaptation to the many changes throughout these last two difficult years. Despite the heightened demands, they have displayed exemplary professionalism and care to focus on the well-being of our students. We will continue to take care of our educators so that they can take care of our students and we will want to do so in appropriate ways in matters that concern their career development and well-being. On the issue of parking which the Member has raised, Government and Statutory Boards, including schools, are required to implement market-rate parking charges. This arose from previous AGO audit observations. Given the long-term nature of season parking, season parking rates are not waived or refunded due to partial use. This applies to all Government-managed car parks, even if the season parking holder does not physically come into the office on certain days due to work from home or hybrid work arrangements. Hence, the parking rates are worked out on the basis of a flat monthly charge, with no pro-rating or waiver for days when there are days of non-usage.”
“MOE has cancelled the year-end examinations for Primary 3 and Primary 4 students this year to mitigate the disruptions to schooling caused by COVID-19. The intent is to provide more time and space for our students to re-adapt to school routines, for teachers to focus on students’ well-being during the phased return to schools and for schools to pace out curriculum recovery. Year-end examinations help provide feedback to the teachers and students on students’ learning for the year, but they were removed this year due to exceptional circumstances. Nevertheless, our schools, as part of their assessment practices, conduct other forms of assessment, other than the year-end examinations. These assessments give a useful amount of feedback for teachers to gauge the learning acquired and determine the learning support needed by students. MOE is monitoring the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the learning progress and well-being of our students. We will work closely with schools to ensure that our students’ learning and well-being remain safeguarded despite these disruptions.”
“Our Autonomous Universities (AUs) are funded substantially by the Government for their operating and capital costs. They may also from time-to-time borrow from the capital market to finance additional initiatives that complement those funded by the Government, to advance their mission in education, research, innovation and enterprise. The Board of Trustees (BOT) appointed by MOE exercises fiduciary duties, including oversight of investment strategies, internal audit and risk management. Any major decision on finances will have to be approved by the BOT or a finance committee appointed by the BOT, which would include members with the requisite finance expertise. In the case of NTU, the decision to issue the sustainability-linked bond was approved by its BOT and the borrowing will go towards the financing of projects to support NTU’s corporate and sustainability goals.”
“The Singapore Allowance (SA) was introduced in 1974 to help pensioners with smaller pensions, below a gross monthly pension ceiling, taking into consideration factors, such as significant inflationary pressures then. Over the years, the SA has been periodically revised. The most recent revisions of the SA and the gross monthly pension ceiling were in 2019. We retained the prevailing SA and gross monthly pension ceiling when we reviewed them earlier this year, in view of factors, such as inflation remaining low. Going forward, PSD will continue to regularly review the SA and the gross monthly pension ceiling and, where necessary, revise them. In addition to the SA, eligible pensioners with smaller pensions also receive other forms of support, such as Goods and Services Tax vouchers, Community Development Council vouchers, grocery vouchers, as well as service and conservancy charges rebates, in the same way as other eligible Singaporeans. Government pensioners who meet the Pioneer and Merdeka Generation criteria are also eligible for Medisave top-ups, outpatient care subsidies and MediShield Life premium subsidies under the Pioneer Generation Package and Merdeka Generation Package.”
“Which is why, just now, in my reply, I mentioned that we do not actively go and track the number of people who seek help because we do not want to give people the wrong impression, that if people seek help, they become a part of the statistics and so forth. Finally, if I may just make a pitch on this issue for people to come forward and seek help – be it the students or the teachers. We tend to look at mental health as a black or white issue: I am mentally okay, or I am mentally not okay. We may need to update our concept. Let us look at it as a kind of fitness level. We all grow in our fitness level, with a bit of training. Today, I might not be able to run as fast or as far. But with a bit of training, tomorrow I can run further and faster. And mental health is also like that. Today, I might not be able to cope with some things. But tomorrow, with a bit of training, stretching, I might be able to cope a bit more and that is how we grow as individuals. If we move away from the binary concept of mental health, then I think it would encourage people to come forward and say that we are much more prepared to come forward and seek help, if we think that we are unable to accomplish a task. There is no shame in this. Once we overcome that level of fitness and we become even fitter, we can then take on more stresses and that is how we grow as a person. With that perspective and that mindset in all school leaders, teachers and students, we will be able to better encourage our people to seek help when they need to. And it is just to stretch ourselves a bit more, to train ourselves up so that we can do better tomorrow than what we have done today.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I will take the four supplementary questions in turn. First, on the issue of training, we do want to equip our teachers to pick up the signs of distress that may happen to their students and also to their fellow peers. To the extent that we can, we would want to do this as part of their professional training. Having said that, one of the things about counselling services is this: be it students or teachers, they all need someone that they can trust in order for them to open up to the counsellors or to the peer, to share. Without this trusting relationship, it is not a function of how many counsellors that we have. Even if we have the counsellors, be they para-counsellors or full-time counsellors, we need this trust relationship to be established. Which is why from Secondary schools and above, we try as much as possible for the first layer to have the peer support, for each of them to be able to identify their own issues and also to look out for their peers. And then, we escalate it to either the family or the teachers, and we escalate it next level to the full-time counsellors. So, we need to triage this. The second question, on the subsidy, I do not think the cost should be an issue. As I have mentioned in my reply, there are services available to all our teachers as part of the Public Service as well. Yes, we are trying to increase the number of Allied Educators and also the para-counsellors but, as I have mentioned, it is not just the numbers that are important; it is also the trust relationship that needs time to build up that is important for the students and the teachers to open up. Definitely, we want to promote a safe environment for people to come forward and seek help.”
“We also want to work together with society, including the unions, so that we can better support our teachers in an all-rounded way.”
“That is why we need to strengthen this partnership. This is the reason why I want to strengthen the partnership between the schools and the parents support groups, not so much just for the parents support groups to support the schools, but also for the parents support groups to support one another in helping one another set the correct expectations, so that we can have a strong partnership between parents and teachers in bringing up our children. Last but not least, I would say this: in the COVID-19 situation, there are many changes. We may not be perfect and we will not be perfect. All of us can pull together and help one another overcome some of the imperfections that we are facing. Sometimes, we have to make changes. Sometimes, we have to make changes at the last minute because of the circumstances. But all of us can pull together and help one another. For example, some families prefer HBL, some families prefer physical schooling. There will not be a situation where we can meet the needs of everyone. But we can all help one another, that when we do not get the things that we want for ourselves, for our families, let us not burden the teachers with the excessive demands on the teachers to try and fulfil our own personal needs. That, I think, will go a long way in helping our teachers cope as well. One of the common feedback from our teachers is that most of our parents are very supportive of our teachers, but there is a small minority of parents who place a very huge demand on our teachers. It is perhaps unfair for the teachers if they are unable to spend their time and take care of all the students because of the high demands placed on them by a very small group of parents. So, we really hope and want to work together with the parents.”
“They can take charge of things, they can customise the curriculum according to the needs of their students, because every school has a different profile of students and no two children are similar. We need to allow teachers and school leaders that autonomy to customise the programmes according to their school needs, according to their students' needs. The second thing that I think I would say is that we, as a whole-of-society, must also help our teachers in a form of partnership. I will give a very simple example. Our teachers care a lot, many of our teachers even give their handphone numbers to their students, just in case their students get into trouble outside school hours. And I have heard many stories of our students, sometimes calling the teachers in the middle of the night because they got kicked out of home, because of family issues and our teachers respond. This is the extent to which our teachers go, to take care of our students beyond the curriculum time in school. But in giving out their handphone numbers to the families and the students, we also hope that the families will not abuse the trust. It is one thing for the child to call up the teacher at midnight to say that he is in trouble. It is another thing for the parent to call up the teacher at midnight to ask whether tomorrow the child has spelling and should wear a red or blue T-shirt. If the child does not remember, so be it. It is part of his learning experience. We, as parents, do not need to overly protect our children and deprive them of the learning experience. I think we need to establish this clear understanding as expectations of parents and society, and that of ourselves, get heightened, a lot of expectations are projected onto our teachers as well.”
“This allows time for the teachers and the school leadership teams to make the necessary adjustments. In the longer term, we would need to do much more to help our teachers cope. One is to use technology to scale up our teaching resources so that we can, as I have mentioned, apply the time more surgically to the higher-needs students. The second thing that we can do to better equip our teachers to manage this is to equip them with the skillsets to detect potential mental health issues among the students and their fellow peers. We are applying it, starting from the National Institute of Education (NIE) curriculum, all the way to their professional development and continuing training. So, these are things we will do over the longer term. Over the longer term, I would also like to see our teachers systematically given a break or sabbatical, whereby they can go out and recharge themselves. And not just to recharge themselves but also for them to acquire new perspectives, new skills, new connections to bring back to the school. That is my wish over the long term and we will progressively roll this out. Finally, can I say that to better support our teachers, we really need a whole-of-society approach. Let me say this: I think our teachers work very hard; they care a lot for our students. I do not think our teachers are afraid to work hard. But in working hard, they must be given a sense of agency, that they are in control, that they are doing things with conviction. That is important. And this is why I keep emphasising that no matter how hard our teachers and school leaders work, they must feel that they are in control, with a sense of agency.”
“While in the long term, this will help to lighten the workload of our teachers, in the short term, it actually requires our teachers to do more because we have to switch over from the current physical schooling curriculum to the online curriculum. Many of our teachers will need to learn new skills. But our hope is that, over the longer term, as we leverage technology to scale up the lesson preparation and even some of the class sizes, then we will be able to devote more time to the higher-needs students. Overall, as a system, it is quite unrealistic for us to expect that we can double the amount of resources overnight. In order to focus more attention and bandwidth on the high-needs students, we will need to find other ways to scale up our curriculum teaching so that we can save some time and bandwidth on the other areas where we can. The third thing in the short term that we have done is to insert what we call surgical breaks into the term time so that, in case there is a spike in the number of cases where the workload is very high, we can give our teachers a slight break. An example of this is, this year, Term 4, where we took one extra day to declare it as a school holiday after the PSLE marking. That one extra day would have given us a period of about nine days continuously for some of our teachers to take a bit of a break and to spread out their load during the PSLE marking. These are things that we will continue to do. The fourth thing that we are doing is to make sure that when MOE communicates with our teachers, we do it systematically. We know that this is a large system that operates with 50,000 educators, more than half a million students. We try not to make too many changes too quickly.”
“Over the course of the last two years, be it the vaccination programme or the mental and social emotional stresses experienced by our students and their families, many of these will culminate in their experiences in the school, which our teachers also have to manage. With that at the back of our mind, what can we do as a society to help our teachers manage? Because they are, ultimately, not only teachers but they are also fellow Singaporeans. They also have families that they need to take care of. I would like to answer the three supplementary questions from Mr Patrick Tay in three parts: what are things that we can do in the short term, things that we can do in the longer term and things that we, as a whole-of-society, can do together to better support our teachers. The fundamental belief is this: if our teachers are well taken care of, they will be able to take care of all our children well. But if our teachers are not well taken care of, if they are not in the best condition, then it is also very difficult for us to expect them to take good care of our children, our students. In the short term, as I have mentioned, we have adjusted various programmes in order to lighten the workload of our teachers. We have adjusted the schedule as to how we roll out new programmes. We have given the schools some of the flexibility to adjust the scheduling, for example, the implementation of blended learning. And for the Full Subject-Based Banding roll-out, we will have to make some adjustments in order to alleviate the workload on our teachers. The second thing that we can do in the short term is to use technology for us to scale up the lessons, especially for home-based learning.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Mr Patrick Tay for his questions and, more importantly, for his concerns for the welfare and well-being of our teachers. I should say a couple of things to set the context as I answer the three supplementary questions from Mr Patrick Tay. First, I think we should all thank our teachers and educators because, over the last two years, it has really been very tough on them. We are one of the few systems in the entire world that have managed to keep our schools going and to allow our students to continue learning with minimum disruptions during the last two years. So, I really want to say a big "Thank You" to all our teachers for going all out. Not many of us realise that in order to keep our school system going, the workload for our teachers has more than doubled. In order for us to switch seamlessly from physical schooling to home-based learning, our teachers need to spend a lot of time preparing more than two sets of lesson plans: one set of lesson plans for the school, the physical schooling; and one set of lesson plans for the home-based learning, just in case we need to switch over seamlessly. On top of that, to be able to take care of the higher-needs students who would still need to return to the school during the home-based learning period. On top of all this, the school leaders and teachers also have to perform the role of contact tracing in case there are cases in the school. We have to do this without additional manpower support. We have seen the challenges that even MOH, together with the support of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), had and how big a challenge this can be. So, all the more, I am deeply appreciative of the efforts by our teachers.”
“As part of a new well-being initiative since September 2021, schools have nominated Wellness Ambassadors for staff to receive training on how to provide basic peer support and encourage their peers to seek help. Training has commenced in end-October. Some IHLs are implementing similar initiatives. To support staff in implementing home-based learning effectively, MOE and the IHLs have provided professional development courses and resources. Learning teams within and across schools also allow staff to collaborate and share good practices on the design and delivery of online lessons. The well-being of our staff is of paramount importance and MOE and the IHLs will continue to strengthen our support for staff to help ensure their well-being.”
“For example, school leaders have been providing guidance on avoiding parent-staff communications after school operating hours except for urgent matters, such as those involving the safety and well-being of students. This can minimise the blurring of lines between work and personal time. In line with the streamlined health protocols, ring-fencing policies and contact tracing processes in schools have now also been significantly simplified and teachers’ workload related to COVID-19 management is being reduced. Similarly, the IHLs have implemented various measures tailored to their institutions, such as reprioritisation of work tasks, to reduce workload and setting clearer expectations that staff need not reply to work emails after office hours unless there are exigencies. To support staff who need help, MOE provides free counselling services. In addition, MOE, Polytechnic and ITE staff who are public officers can access the whole-of-Government counselling hotline. Staff in the Autonomous Universities have access to either in-house or external counselling services. Before COVID-19, about 50 staff from our schools sought support from MOE’s in-house counsellors annually. The annual number has increased to about 80 since 2020. Similarly, the number of IHL teaching staff seeking counselling support has increased. We do not have more detailed data, as information from all counselling sessions is kept confidential and staff are not required to report mental distress or psychiatric issues. We recognise the exceptional demands that COVID-19 has placed on our staff and have put in additional effort to promote a positive and supportive work environment for staff well-being across schools and IHLs, such as organising workshops covering stress management and self-care.”
“Our teaching staff have shouldered a heavy responsibility to ensure that our students can continue learning safely during this COVID-19 pandemic. Workload for teaching staff has increased as they are responsible for ensuring that students are educated about and comply with the safe management measures. Each time a confirmed case is notified, staff need to follow-up on contact tracing and communications. When home-based learning (HBL) was declared, teaching staff also needed to make the necessary arrangements, with additional support for students who may not adjust as well to HBL. All these efforts are necessary to allow teaching and learning to continue, despite the pandemic. To keep track of staff sentiments and well-being, the Ministry of Education (MOE) conducts dipstick polls, school visits by senior management and engagement surveys. The Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) also conduct surveys and staff engagements with leaders. MOE and the IHLs have put in place measures to address the concerns raised by staff on workload. At the system-level, MOE has reprioritised initiatives and reduced schools’ involvement in HQ work and pilots. Schools have also been given greater flexibility to pace the implementation of selected initiatives, including deferring implementation, if it helps to spread out staff workload. For example, Secondary schools and JCs were given the option to defer the implementation of Blended Learning to 2022 instead of Term 3 of 2021, as originally planned. At the school-level, we recognise that ground practices may vary. We have called on school leaders to reprioritise school programmes, establish clear expectations on teachers’ availability and work hours and encourage supervisors to check in with their officers regularly.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 1 and 2 together, please?”
“MOE’s approach has been to keep schools safe so that they can remain open as far as possible. We recognise home-based learning (HBL) cannot be a full substitute for the school-based learning experience. If HBL is prolonged, it hampers learning and reduces opportunities for students to build relationships with their peers. With high vaccination rates among students from Secondary schools and above, we can minimise the need to place them on HBL. Throughout the Stabilisation Phase which began on 27 September 2021, school-based learning continued for older students in Secondary schools, Junior Colleges and Centralised Institute under strict safe management measures (SMMs). As we transit to living with COVID-19 and community cases stabilise, we plan to resume more activities for students at Secondary school levels and above with appropriate safeguards. This will include co-curricular activities (CCAs) and larger school events. Our hope is that by next year, important inter-school experiences for our students such as the National School Games could also be held, subject to the prevailing national situation.”
“Students who require mental health support seek help from different avenues, including teaching staff and counsellors in schools and the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). Over the years, we have observed more students seeking counselling support including for mental health-related issues. This could be due partly to a growing willingness to seek help and the increased availability of support and resources. During counselling sessions, students typically share about a range of issues and may not say that they have been diagnosed with mental illness or have psychiatric issues. Students dealing with mental health issues, as well as their parents, often prefer to keep their situation and the support they are receiving confidential and private. They may not share such information with the school or IHL. We are also mindful to treat any information shared with sensitivity and confidentiality, and hence, do not have detailed statistics nor share the information publicly.”
“MOE supports teachers by providing a wide range of learning resources through the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS) online platform. The SLS also guides teachers to apply the appropriate pedagogies in designing technology-enabled lessons both in class and online. In addition, MOE provides teachers with a range of professional development programmes that build their capacity to use these tools and resources effectively. These programmes range from bite-sized modules on designing effective online lessons to workshops on how to seamlessly link classroom teaching with home-based learning. Besides professional development programmes, teachers also build new capabilities through sharing and collaboration. In schools, time is set aside for teachers to work in teams to share ideas and develop online lessons and resources. Teachers can also connect across schools via MOE’s learning communities. One example is the Singapore Learning Designers Circle online group, where more than 19,000 teachers share lesson ideas and best practices. While online learning is an effective tool when students cannot attend school in-person, MOE also guides teachers to balance online teaching with non-technological teaching methods such as the use of textbooks, worksheets and simple hands-on activities. MOE will continue to support teachers as they navigate the fluidity of the current situation to ensure that learning continues effectively for our students.”
“For counselling support, teachers have access to iCARE, which offers in-house professional counselling, as well as to the 24/7 Whole-of-Government (WOG) Counselling Hotline, which offers external professional counselling should teachers wish to speak to someone outside of MOE. MOE is committed to looking after the well-being of all teachers and will continue to explore ways to enhance the support given to our teachers in this area.”
“MOE supports schools to build a positive culture where teachers collaborate in teaching and support one another in well-being. School Leaders are committed to developing a culture of care and to support their staff. They seek feedback from their teachers and take follow-up actions on survey findings about their schools’ staff engagement and well-being. Every school also has a Staff Well-being Committee to look into staff welfare and bonding, and these committees are supported by MOE HQ with resources, programmes and regular platforms to share best practices. Schools also have structures that promote collaboration among teachers in their work. For instance, teachers come together in Professional Learning Teams to design lessons for their students. They can also approach the Teacher Leaders or Instructional Mentors in their schools for support pertaining to and beyond teaching and learning. Beyond their school, teachers can participate in Networked Learning Communities (NLC), where teachers from different schools come together to focus on specific needs identified by them. Master Teachers work with teachers in these NLCs to design, enact and enhance lesson plans that they co-create. To strengthen peer support for well-being, MOE introduced a Wellness Ambassador initiative in September 2021, which will be rolled out progressively with two officers in each school nominated to receive training. These Wellness Ambassadors are not expected to counsel colleagues but will help direct their peers on how to seek help.”
“We recognise that Class 4 driving licences are a regulatory requirement before individuals can take on jobs that involve the driving of certain heavy motor vehicles. Given this clear employment-related outcome, SkillsFuture Singapore would be prepared to support courses related to attaining Class 4 driving licences.”
“Thirty-nine thousand, two hundred and eighty-one students registered for the 2021 PSLE written examinations that were held from 30 September 2021 to 6 October 2021. The overall attendance rate was 99.5%. About 430 (1.1%) students missed at least one paper due to COVID-19 related reasons. About 840 (2.1%) students who were on Quarantine Orders (QO) sat for the examinations under special arrangement as they had tested negative for COVID-19 in accordance with MOH’s requirements. Of these, about 690 students (about 82%) managed to sit for all written papers. Similar to previous years, students who miss any national examination paper(s) with valid reasons (including COVID-19, medical leave or compassionate reasons) can apply for special consideration. Special consideration is a well-established procedure, used by many international examination boards, which awards students with projected grades through a fair and rigorous evidence-based methodology. In awarding a grade for these affected students, SEAB will consider multiple sources of data, such as the student’s performance in the other papers for that affected subject in national and school-based examinations as well as the school cohort's performance in national and school-based examinations, to ensure a fair assessment for all students. All special consideration applications are assessed on each case’s merit, to ensure that the grades awarded are as accurate and fair as possible.”
“Officers who find their home environments unsuitable for work may seek approval to return to the workplace, subject to prevailing safe management measures such as staggered working hours and safe distancing. We do not track the proportion of staff who have taken up alternative work venue arrangements. In addition, as a hybrid working arrangement is likely to continue, the Public Service is planning to launch a network of geographically distributed shared co-working spaces located in existing public agency-owned spaces that will be open to all Public Officers. These spaces will be close to officers’ homes, and provide alternative venues for officers to work and collaborate as One Public Service. Officers who find their home environments unsuitable for work may utilise these spaces when they are ready.”
“To answer Mr Murali’s question directly, there will be some impact on learning with the loss of conventional in-person schooling, especially the loss of CCAs and other informal interpersonal interactions. That is why we try to resume those activities where we can. But our assessment is that the impact is not major thus far, but we cannot take for granted that the negative impact will not cumulate. We will continue to take steps to ameliorate these issues with the help of technology, the commitment of our teachers and the support of our parents.”
“MOE is closely monitoring the disruptions to schooling caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and has taken steps to ensure that students’ learning and development is not unduly compromised. We do so by keeping schools open as far as possible and by ensuring that learning can still take place as effectively as possible even under home-based learning (HBL) conditions. When students return to school, teachers ensure that students can make up for the in-person learning that they could not conduct online. While the Common Last Topics were removed from our national examinations, recovery is in place as these topics will be taught post-examination and also via the Student Learning Space. This will ensure preparedness for the next level of learning. Therefore, we do not see a significant negative impact on students’ learning as a result of the pandemic. We have surveyed our students on their full HBL experiences and majority of them have indicated that their learning has not been severely affected. The overall performance of our students in the 2020 national examinations was also comparable to that of previous years, affirming that there were no major learning losses. Amidst these challenges, the crisis has presented us an opportunity to emerge stronger. Both teachers and students have become more skilful in harnessing the strengths of Blended Learning to develop future-ready skills. Many of our students have also become more self-directed and independent in their learning, and more resilient to disruptions. These growths will stand them in good stead when confronted with future challenges in life and careers. We are confident that this generation of students remain as well prepared, if not more so, as past generations for the challenges ahead of them.”
“MOE recruits both trained and untrained applicants for School Counsellors (SC). Untrained applicants undergo the Diploma in School Counselling (DSC) programme conducted by the National Institute of Education (NIE) before they are deployed as SCs in the schools. The DSC programme is specially designed for school counselling to equip the trainees to work effectively and meet the needs of our children and youths in the educational setting. NIE has a wealth of knowledge and experience in research and training in counselling psychology within the school context. They have been offering the Master of Arts (Counselling and Guidance) programme since early 2000, which is recognised by professionals and the Singapore Association for Counselling (SAC). Counsellors in Singapore are not required to register with SAC as it is not an accreditation or licensure body. MOE too does not require School Counsellors to register with SAC. Registration is voluntary.”
“MOE and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) have announced the updated arrangements on 26 September 2021 for those who may be affected by COVID-19 for the coming national examinations. These include special arrangements to allow students to take their national year-end examinations while on Quarantine Order (QO), Leave of Absence or Approved Absence in a safe manner, starting from the PSLE which began on 30 September 2021, and for GCE "N(A)/N(T)", "O" and "A" level examinations thereafter. Students on QO will be allowed to sit for national written examinations under stringent conditions including a rigorous testing regime and safe management measures. These includes a negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) entry swab at the beginning of the QO, and students completing a self-swab with Antigen Rapid Tests (ART) kits at home and test Ag- within 24 hours before each of their examination papers. Safe management measures and other precautions are also put in place at the examination venues to ensure the safe conduct of the national examinations. In the immediate period before the national examinations, travelling should be avoided. In addition, Stay-Home Notice is mandatory for persons after returning from overseas trips. SEAB will, however, make an exception if a student needs to travel for compassionate reasons, for example, demise of close relatives. For these candidates on SHN, SEAB will apply similar arrangements as that for candidates on QO to allow them to sit for their national written examinations.”
“In primary schools, students are first introduced to the importance and skills of first aid treatment at Upper Primary levels. They learn basic first aid skills like the procedures for treating minor cuts and minor burns. They are also taught how to identify signs and symptoms of a cardiac arrest and to call for help in the event that someone suffers a cardiac arrest. These lessons are incorporated in the Physical Education (PE) curriculum for all primary schools. The importance of first aid during an emergency is reinforced through stories in SGSecure resources shared with schools.”
“Less than 0.5% of Singaporean students are enrolled in international schools. On average, we receive around 50 to 60 appeals each year from parents who wish to send their Singaporean children to international schools. The reasons cited include preference for an international curriculum because their children had spent many years abroad, or have special educational needs or medical conditions. International schools are primarily meant to cater to the children of the expatriate community in Singapore. It is important that our Singaporean children attend our national schools to help develop common values and a sense of national identity and bonding through shared school experiences.”
“For example, they may be referred to the Enhanced STEP-UP Programme where youth workers in appointed SSAs engage the students to support their continued education. School drop-outs can resume their education by approaching MOE or the school they were last enrolled in. Their needs will be assessed and the student will be re-admitted appropriately. Upon re-admission, students will receive additional support to smoothen their return and enable them to complete their education.”
“The Ministry of Education, schools and partner agencies adopt an integrated approach towards enabling students to complete their secondary education. Hence the attrition rate has been reduced from 3.6% in 2002 to less than 1% in the past 10 years. Early upstream intervention in school is provided to strengthen at-risk students’ engagement and sense of connectedness to school. Once students show early signs of disengagement, they are individually tracked and supported. Form teachers and School Counsellors reach out to these students to understand and address their challenges. Student Welfare Officers will also conduct home visits and work with Family Service Centres (FSCs) to engage parents and encourage the student who have been absent to return to school. Secondary schools have also set up after-school programmes to provide mentoring and learning support to students. Under UPLIFT (Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce), the UPLIFT Community Pilot addresses absenteeism issues early through school-based and community-based support. Schools refer students with emerging signs of absenteeism and their families to an UPLIFT Town-Level Coordinator (TLC) based at the Social Service Office (SSO) who will assess their needs and refer them to appropriate agencies, local programmes and resources. Every effort is made to counsel and dissuade at-risk students from dropping out of school. For students with chronic absenteeism and who drop out notwithstanding the school’s efforts, MOE taps on partners such as the Social Service Offices (SSOs), FSCs, Self-Help Groups and Social Service Agencies (SSAs) to continue supporting them.”
“In preparation to return to competitive sports, a Graduated Return-To-Sport (RTS) strategy, which guides the progressive increment in the intensity of physical activities, is practised. To better safeguard students against potential head injuries in sports like Taekwondo and Softball, head guards and helmets are compulsory for all students. In addition, paramedics trained in head-spine injury management are present at the competition venues for Rugby and Judo at the NSG.”
“Concussion-related injuries are not common among students involved in contact sports. On average, less than eight cases of concussion-related injuries have occurred each year in contact sports in schools and National School Games (NSG) from 2017 to 2019. Due to disruptions and cancellations of sports CCAs and NSG competitions, only two cases of concussion-related injury were reported in 2020 with none reported in 2021, to date. MOE takes a comprehensive approach when managing safety in physical sports activities in schools, with measures covering pre-activity, during-activity, and post-activity management. Schools are provided with physical sports CCA safety resources on sports concussion and safety management guides for six high-contact sports training (basketball, football, hockey, judo, rugby, taekwondo). These guides provide sport-specific information required to ensure the safety of student athletes. For example, all students participating in rugby CCA must learn how to execute different tackling techniques correctly to minimise injury risks. Additionally, MOE provides resources to guide schools in recognising concussion injuries in our students. A set of sports concussion management guidelines has also been provided to guide schools on managing the recovery process if a concussion-related injury occurs. Schools follow standard procedures to protect the long-term health of students involved in high-risk sports. When a student is suspected of a concussion injury, he would cease participation immediately and be advised to seek medical attention. For students who have incurred a concussion injury, clearance from a medical practitioner would be necessary before returning to competitive sports.”
“Organisations like TOUCH Community Services, for example, reach out to parents, to equip and empower them with the necessary digital and parenting skills to support their children in navigating the digital space.”
“Cyber Wellness has been identified as an area of focus for students, and MOE has enhanced its Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum to highlight safe and healthy online usage, while using scenario-based learning to help students better understand harmful online influences. That said, it is important that parents work closely with schools to inculcate good online habits and help manage their child’s use of devices at home. To support parents to manage their child’s online habits, MOE has shared Cyber Wellness resources for parents, through platforms such as the MOE Parent Kit Website and social media pages on Facebook and Instagram. To mitigate against the unintended impact of technology use, Cyber Wellness lessons in CCE nurture students to be safe, respectful and responsible users of cyber space and to be a positive peer influence. Students are also taught to seek help from trusted adults should they or their friends require support or guidance on cyber issues. This includes issues such as cyber bullying, online harassment and online grooming. For secondary students who have been equipped with personal learning devices under the National Digital Literacy Programme, schools can set screen time limits to prevent over-use by students. These limits can be further customised by parents. Such measures are part of schools’ efforts to ensure that the use of devices is well-balanced and supports students’ holistic learning experiences. Healthy online habits require a whole of society effort to inculcate. Schools collaborate with community partners to emphasize efforts and increase outreach.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, our testing for staff and children will follow the national posture. Suffice to say that we understand the importance of resuming CCAs for our students as soon as possible, as much as possible, because this is all part of their overall development beyond the academic subjects that they do in school. A large part of the school curriculum also involves what we call the CCAs, which help our children to build up their socio-emotional resilience and well-being. So, we will try to do that as much as possible, as soon as possible, in line with the national posture.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Education (MOE) recognises that Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) and other interpersonal activities are important for student development and overall well-being. MOE has taken a calibrated approach to resume student activities, with reference to the national posture. In-person CCAs and enrichment activities at the secondary-level and above, including our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), resumed in August this year with the relevant safe management measures in place. With the tightening of the community safe management measures in the Stabilisation Phase from 27 September, MOE had suspended in-person CCAs and enrichment activities for secondary and junior college/Millenia Institute students. We hope to resume these activities when it is safe for our students to do so. For primary school students who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, we have taken a more cautious approach, with in-person CCAs still suspended. We are monitoring the situation carefully and will decide at an appropriate juncture when to resume in-person CCAs and activities in a safe manner, complemented by stringent safe management and surveillance measures.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, if I may take the second question first and then come back to the first. Mr Speaker, Sir, the considerations for primary and secondary schools are quite different. The main difference being that most of our primary school kids, less half of the Primary 6 cohorts, are not vaccinated yet, which is why we have taken extra precautions for our Primary schools. For Secondary schools and above, a vast majority of our students have already been vaccinated. So, the kind of anxiety that the students or their families may face is quite different. We will do what is necessary to make sure that the ongoing "N" and the upcoming "O" and "A" Level examinations can continue to be conducted safely. On the first question as to whether we will extend HBL for the Primary schools, MOE will be making an announcement later this week. The reason why I am not making the announcement today are as follows. One, we are in the middle of PSLE. I would like to have all the school leaders and the teachers to focus on the task at hand first. Second, we are also proceeding with our internal preparations and communications with our educators and I would like them to know our decision collectively first before we make the announcement in the latter part of this week, in tandem with the national posture.”
“Schools have sufficient computing devices and Internet-enabling devices to loan to students and remain open for high needs students and those without alternative caregiving arrangements during HBL. We will continue to review the need for further periods of HBL, based on the prevailing COVID-19 situation and national posture.”
“The Ministry of Education's (MOE's) approach has been to keep schools safe so that they can remain open as far as possible. We recognise that home-based learning (HBL) cannot be a full substitute for the school-based learning experience. On a prolonged basis, it comes at a cost not just to students' learning but also their socio-emotional development and mental well-being. It also imposes a burden on families and society. Moreover, not all students have a home environment conducive to HBL. The past few months have given us greater confidence that we can strike a balance by taking a more targeted approach to ringfence cases and their close contacts. For example, rather than resorting to full HBL across all schools, or the entire level, we would only place affected classes on HBL in response to a confirmed case, if there is a possibility of transmission within schools. To reduce the possible disruption to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) cohort and as an additional precautionary measure for Primary schools, we had placed all our Primary schools on HBL from 27 September to 6 October. Subsequently, when the national posture tightened, this was extended by a day to include 7 October, effectively covering Term 4, Week 3 to 4, or two weeks, given that Children's Day on 8 October is already a school holiday. Schools mitigate the impact of HBL by using technology to minimise disruption to curriculum coverage and maintain social connections. Teachers use online platforms and resources to ensure that students who are away from school can continue learning and conduct regular check-ins with these students to monitor their well-being.”