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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Every one of 2,624 lines we hold for Chan Chun Sing, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 8 of 53.
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I fully agree with the Member Ms Yeo Wan Ling's point about both the dangers and difficulties of doxxing others. It could be younger students; it could be older students. It does not matter; it is still doxxing. Because this will complicate the relationship. Doxxing, itself, in certain contexts, will constitute bullying as well. So, sometimes, when people exercise what I call "social vigilantism", it can backfire and complicate many of the efforts to help the victim and to rehabilitate the perpetrators. We will continue to explore with the platform companies to see what can be done. I am not confident that this is top of mind for them, but we will certainly try to get their help, especially when the physical and psychological well-being of our children are at stake. And I hope the platform companies will work with us, MDDI and the Police to manage some of these issues. I would like to thank all Members for your concern and I would like to reiterate that, in order for us to manage these issues, all of us have a part to play to guide our children, help the victim heal, but also to rehabilitate the perpetrators so that the actions are not repeated.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member Jamus Lim might have missed some parts of what I have mentioned. Indeed, we get the parents of the perpetrators involved because we believe that this is part of the rehabilitation process. The rehabilitation process cannot be done independent of the parents because the parents are part of the partnership for us to bring up the children. We do not have a position, as the Member has mentioned, like in some other jurisdictions, where they take the parents to task through fines or other punitive measures. But we certainly involve the parents. And if you have cases where you think the parents of the perpetrator would like to get involved more, but is not adequately provided for, let us know and we will follow up on this. Most of the time, it is the other way around, where we would like to engage the perpetrators' parents to get their support and cooperation, but sometimes this may not be forthcoming. On the other hand, the Member has touched on the other point about expectations. Sometimes, we have difficult cases when parents take things into their own hands and this is certainly most unhelpful because that will be a negative role modelling of what we want for our children.”
“I have also parents who have written to me to say, "Can you please do not suspend my child from going to school because when they are not in school, they are in a much more difficult environment where they do not have anybody to guide them even". So, I think we need to help the victim to heal. We also need to rehabilitate the perpetrators to the extent that we can. But, of course, at the end of the day, nobody is above the law, and, in the extreme cases, the full force of the law will be applied to the perpetrators.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, indeed, that is what we are discussing with MDDI and some of the platform companies. We are particularly concerned when videos of such instances go around because, as I have mentioned, they can have consequences. One, it can lead to more copycat attempts. Second, it can lead to people trying to "out-viral" the last known video. But third, we have to have a care when we viral such things. Because we need to give the perpetrators a chance to rehabilitate. I have received many letters, emails from concerned parents. Sometimes, the things that they suggest we do, we need to have a care. For example, trying to doxx the perpetrators. It will leave a digital footprint for a very long time. And I am not sure it will help us in our rehabilitation efforts. Imagine a young child doing something wrong and it is on record forever. That child could be our child. This is not to make an excuse for the people who have done wrong, the perpetrators. For the people who have done wrong, we try to rehabilitate them, just as we punish them for doing wrong. That is why, in the last sentence in my reply, "True justice must blend punishment with rehabilitation." And the last thing I hope we do not get into is where adults jump in and complicate the situation. Sometimes, these are most unhelpful in helping us to manage the situation on hand when we rehabilitate the perpetrator and help the victim to heal. So, I would like to just make an appeal for all of us to be careful. Then there are also letters and suggestions that we throw the children out of school. Again, I am not very sure that helps the children in the long term.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not have the last 20 years of data. I have already explained that in the last few years, the data has been relatively stable. The only thing that we have changed in the classification is that, previously, we did not account for instances that happened outside of school, but more recently, we have also put that into our data. That is about the only change that we have done recently. On the second issue that Ms Hazel Poa mentioned, this is exactly the point, because it is not about focusing on just the bullying, but the potential causes of why people engage in such behaviours, whether is it children or adults or teenagers, and there are many reasons for this. I think the literature has various hypotheses on this. But for more recent events, one of the things that we watch closely is the impact of the COVID-19 safe distancing measures and the reduction in opportunities for our children to grow up interacting with people, as they would have done previously, and whether this would have an impact on the kind of social or anti-social behaviours that they have. The second thing that we are watching very closely is what is happening on the Internet. Sometimes, even though the numbers are the same, the virality of some of these instances will then spawn copycats or attempts to "out-viral" the last known instance. That is why when we respond to such instances, we have to be very careful to not aggravate the situation.”
“Mr Speaker, the numbers for the breakdown of the offline and online bullying incidents have been answered in my response. The number of reported online cases is generally much lower than the offline ones. But as Members have noted, this could also be because people are less sensitised to what constitutes online bullying. So, for example, if a child views that he or she has been excluded from a group repeatedly, persistently, does that constitute a form of psychological bullying? It has to be taken in context and then we have to look at the case carefully. So, my own belief is that the online numbers will progressively rise because of the circumstances that our children are exposed to, but also because as people become more aware of what is happening, there will be more of such reported instances. On the second point about neurodiversity, that is why we handle all cases sensitively. It is not a one-size-fits-all method to handle things. Some children with special needs may have, advertently or inadvertently, caused harm to others and they may not know and, when we counsel them, we have to handle them with care because of their different needs. On the other hand, when students with special needs are bullied or made to feel uncomfortable, we will also have to make special efforts to counsel the perpetrators. The guidelines as to what constitutes bullying is the same. But the remediation measures will have to be taken in context, taking into account the conditions and circumstances of both the victims and the perpetrators.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have mentioned, the issues have become more complex over time for various reasons. One, students today are exposed to much more diverse influences beyond schools, beyond the community and even beyond the families, and largely through the Internet. So, the sources of information and the kind of exposures that they are being exposed to have become much more complex. Second, on the positive side, we have also stepped up efforts to sensitise our students to what constitutes bullying and that can also help us to have better detection. And students today are much more confident, willing and able to come forward and tell us what they have experienced. On the other hand, we also have students who are becoming much more sensitive, not just sensitised, to some of these issues and what they perceive as bullying may or may not correspond to what other people may perceive as bullying. But regardless of the complexities, we encourage all students to report instances when they feel they have not been treated with respect or they have felt unsafe, to let the school leaders know. We will work with the parents and the community to try and rehabilitate the perpetrators and also to take care of the physical and emotional needs of our children. So, how has this changed over the years? Well, besides those points that I mentioned, today, when such instances happen in schools, very often we have to not just manage the issues between the students; sometimes, we also have to manage the issues amongst the parents and their great expectations on all parties of what the other side should do.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we are similarly concerned about the reporting, not just of under-reporting. There can also be over-reporting of a different kind. Because, as mentioned, this issue is a complex one. What people constitute as "bullying" also varies in interpretation across different people. So, we should be careful. There will be instances whereby some people may have encountered some bullying or unfortunate instances and where they think that they are able to manage it and they did not escalate the issue to the adults or teachers. There will also be cases where people have experienced uncomfortable situations which may not exactly constitute "bullying", but they will also raise this to the adults or parents and we will take actions as necessary. So, it is not just about having more channels. The channels are there for us to use. But regardless of the channels, we want to give people and students the confidence that if you are in doubt, where you feel troubled, you should be able to use the existing channels to report it to the adults and then have the adults work with the students to see how they can mend the relationships and move the relationships forward.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first supplementary question, these programmes are already part of our CCE package and programme. On the second supplementary question, there are, indeed, baseline policies, but when we say that we intervene, I would just like to reiterate what I have spelt out clearly in my response just now. Any intervention cannot be a one-size-fits-all. Any punishment or rehabilitation must take into account the circumstances and also the background of both the victim and perpetrator. So, these are complex issues, as Mr Liang Eng Hwa says, and it is important for us not to oversimplify these issues. Very often, the rehabilitation for both the victim and perpetrators is not a short journey and we need to put in the necessary efforts with the parents and the community partners in order to do this well.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first supplementary question, certainly, MOE and our schools collaborate with community partners and the Police, where relevant, to help monitor and also to counsel our students on such issues. We will continue to do that. On the second point, Mr Liang Eng Hwa says that issues are becoming much more complex. Indeed, it is so. The environment has become more complex. Part of it is that, today, we live in a hyperconnected world. Students have access to many things on the Internet, relationships are becoming much more complex, not just between and amongst students, but relationships and expectations are also becoming much more complex with parents. So, if I can point out something: when students have issues, we try to mend the relationships, guide the students on the positive trajectory. Very often, we will also need the partnership of the parents and, sometimes, in very unfortunate circumstances, the adults can also be a complicating factor when children quarrel.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I will make three short responses to the three supplementary questions. First, I do not think there is an easy or simple, and certainly, we do not want simplistic, way to measure the effectiveness of our measures. Ultimately, the test of the pudding is, do our students feel safe in school, do our students feel that they have a good school environment where they can interact with their peers with respect? Second, on the ratio of counsellors, as I have mentioned in my speech and before, we allocate the number of counsellors based on the following considerations. One, while all schools have a baseline number of counsellors, they are reinforced according to the specific needs. There are some schools with higher needs and we will reinforce them with the necessary numbers. Third, it does not mean that we depend only on counsellors. All teachers are trained to a certain extent and we work in partnership with the community and the teachers. On the third supplementary question about when we will review the policies, we constantly review the policies and we apply the measures according to the needs of the respective schools as well.”
“We will continue to update these education and intervention measures and partner parents to create caring and safe learning environments for our students. I thank Members of Parliament and members of the public for showing their concern about this issue. With your help to monitor community and online spaces to keep our students safe and to stop bullying incidents among students when you witness them, we will be that village that raises our children well. Finally, Mr Speaker, Sir, bullying is a multi-faceted issue that defies one-size-fits-all solutions. It requires a nuanced approach that carefully considers the well-being and reform of both victims and perpetrators. We all hold the power and duty to support each other and to foster an environment where healing and change are possible. We want to steer clear of actions that might hinder or deny a perpetrator's chance for rehabilitation, such as counter-productive social media behaviours. True justice blends punishment with rehabilitation.”
“When relationships are affected due to conflicts and misconduct, schools and institutions take steps to educate, discipline and restore relationships in the school community, and these efforts require parents' support and partnership. Parental guidance and partnerships are vital in shaping children's character. Parents guide their children by role-modelling positive behaviour and interaction with others. When a child faces bullying, parents are encouraged to remain calm and provide emotional support, reinforcing pro-social values and coping skills. Similarly, when a child has bullied someone, parents can guide their child to learn from the mistake, apologise sincerely and make amends. As mending relationships and improving behaviour require time and practice, parents are encouraged to collaborate closely with schools to address the situation effectively. When students witness bullying incidents, they are reminded not to record and share the incidents online to avoid further hurting the parties involved. Similarly, when videos become viral, everyone should exercise care in responding to them. Circulating such materials, trying to doxx the student perpetrators or calling for them to be ostracised, could isolate them even more, drive them to extremes and make it harder for them to mend their ways. The bullying perpetrators often also need help to turn over a new leaf. As a society, we must be careful not to normalise such behaviours unintentionally. Let us stand together to discourage copycats and attempts to out-viral the last bullying video. MOE will continue to work with schools to share good practices and review the strategies to manage bullying.”
“For cyber bullying incidents, schools guide students to report these to the online service provider. When schools and IHLs come to know of any incident of severe bullying or fights, they work closely with parents and the authorities to ensure students' well-being and safety. They also mete out the necessary disciplinary consequences and guide students to change their thinking and behaviours so that they can learn to be responsible members of the community. Similarly, our schools and IHLs consider the seriousness of the incident and take into consideration the profile and needs of the students involved, when taking disciplinary actions. Schools may put perpetrators on detention or even suspend them from attending lessons. Caning is used as a last resort for boys and carried out in an appropriate manner only by authorised adults. For severe bullying or fights, a Police report will be made and perpetrators will face legal consequences in accordance with the law. Whenever a student is affected by bullying, whether as a victim or perpetrator, the teachers and school counsellors provide emotional support to help the student cope and mend relationships. Students who continue to be distressed will be referred to community resources such as the Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health (REACH) teams for more specialised support. The objective of these educative and restorative efforts is to help students learn from their mistakes. These efforts are taken to turn the bully around, rather than just "expelling" or suspending them from school.”
“Through cyber wellness lessons, students learn to be respectful and responsible users online. Whether online or offline, they should report any incident of bullying to their teachers or School Leaders. As students sometimes prefer to turn to their friends for support, schools have established peer support networks and trained students to help and look out for one another, and in conflict management. These educative efforts continue in our IHLs, which raise awareness about anti-bullying through modules teaching respect and appropriate behaviour, as well as peer support structures. Members Mr Yip Hon Weng, Ms Hazel Poa, Mr Christopher de Souza and others asked about the intervention and support for bullying victims and perpetrators, and how schools collaborate with families, community partners and Police to address them. Teachers are trained to create a positive classroom culture, recognise distressed students, and proactively address hurtful behaviours and bullying. All pre-service teachers receive this training, and new teachers are supported by experienced staff and school counsellors. In-service teachers also receive refresher training as part of their professional development. When any incident of bullying within or outside schools is reported, schools and IHLs conduct thorough investigations before deciding on the appropriate course of action. We adopt a tiered approach based on the severity of incident. In cases arising from careless remarks and misunderstandings, teachers guide students to resolve their differences and reach a common understanding. For cases involving persistent, intentional acts of bullying, serious disciplinary actions are taken in addition to the restorative actions.”
“Sir, my apologies, till Question No 27. The Ministry of Education (MOE) takes a serious view of all forms of hurtful behaviour, from once-off insensitive remarks to more persistent, intentional acts of bullying and even physical violence. Schools and IHLs have rules and regulations which prohibit any form of bullying. Our schools and IHLs educate students against these negative behaviours and work with families, the community and partners to intervene promptly and address them. Members Ms Hany Soh, Mr Gerald Giam, Mr Louis Chua asked about the trends in bullying incidents. In the last five years, the average number of bullying incidents has remained steady. For every 1,000 students, there were an average of two incidents in primary schools and six incidents in secondary schools annually for any form of bullying, both within and outside of school. Of these, incidents involving the use of technology averaged less than one incident per 1,000 secondary students and even fewer in primary schools each year. Members Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim and Dr Wan Rizal asked about how MOE educates our students and equips them to deal with threats of bullying. From young, students learn pro-social behaviours through lessons and role-modelling. Through the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum and a school environment that emphasises values and respect, students acquire skills to be kind to their classmates, resolve disagreements respectfully and stand up against bullying. Students learn what to do when they encounter unsafe situations. Stay calm, do not retaliate, but move away and seek help from adults nearby, and alert their teachers and parents. These lessons extend to the cyberspace.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, my response will address the questions raised by Members Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Dr Wan Rizal, Mr Christopher de Souza, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song, Mr Yip Hon Weng, Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis, Ms Hany Soh and Ms He Ting Ru on the bullying incidents in schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), that recently caught public attention on the Internet. My response will also cover related questions from Ms Hazel Poa, Mr Sharael Taha, Mr Gan Thiam Poh and Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, which are scheduled for subsequent Sittings.”
“Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 20 to 28, please.”
“Private Education Institutes (PEIs) are entities registered and regulated under the Private Education Act and Regulations. Registration under the Private Education Act is unrelated to SkillsFuture Credit. Some PEIs separately qualify as SkillsFuture Singapore-supported training providers, offering Continuing Education and Training (CET) courses that are eligible for SkillsFuture Credit. In their capacity as CET providers, PEIs receive about 35% of the total approved SkillsFuture Credit claims by Singaporeans, which amounted to about $67 million.”
“This question has been answered as part of the Minister for Education's oral reply to Parliamentary Question Nos 1 and 2 on 10 September 2024. Members may refer to the transcript for the reply. [Please refer to "Outcomes from Gifted Education Programme, and Rationale and Plans for Programme Revamp ", Official Report, 10 September 2024, Vol 95, Issue 141, Oral Answers to Questions section.]”
“SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) received an average of around 650 complaints on Private Education Institutions per year from 2016 to 2018. The number of complaints has since declined to around 200 on average per year from 2019 to 2023, given mandatory minimum standards set through the Enhanced Registration Framework and the Dispute Resolution Scheme for consumer protection. These complaints can be broadly categorised into three types, namely: (i) administrative matters, such as admission processes and certificate issuance; (ii) academic matters, such as management of examinations and feedback on teachers and staff; and (iii) course fees and payment-related matters.”
“Under the law, Polling Day of any General Election or Presidential Election is a public holiday. However, we recognise that some voters may still have to work despite Polling Day being a public holiday. As such, polls are open from 8 am to 8 pm to allow enough time for voters to vote. The law also provides that every employer must allow every voter in his employ a reasonable amount of time to vote. Employees who have to work on Polling Day should make arrangements with their employers to enable them to vote during Polling Day. With the support of employers and the 12-hour window for polling, all voters should be able to cast their votes even if they work on Polling Day without extension of the polling hours.”
“The Ministry of Education monitors the sleep sufficiency of students through regular surveys. Based on the latest survey in 2023, Primary 5 and Secondary 3 students reported, on average, getting seven hours of sleep on school days. In schools, students learn about the importance of sleep and good sleep habits through the Physical Education curriculum. Parents also play an important role to encourage their children to adopt good sleep habits.”
“The Mother Tongue Language (MTL) curriculum is designed to develop students' values, cultural understanding and language skills to communicate effectively. It focuses on helping students to use their MTL proficiently in their daily lives. Teachers use authentic contexts, multi-modal resources and instructional strategies such as role-playing and gamification to create engaging learning experiences. The idioms and phrases taught in the curriculum are carefully selected to enrich students’ vocabulary and enable them to communicate with stronger cultural understanding. The Ministry of Education regularly updates the MTL curriculum and scans international research developments in language education, incorporating best practices and technological tools. This ensures that our MTL curriculum, resources and instructional approaches remain responsive and effective to changes in environment and learner profiles.”
“From 2019 to date, the National University of Singapore has not changed its entry requirements for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer is yes. I have said in my answer that depending on the security level of the different systems, we have different tiers of vulnerability testing regularly. 12.31 pm”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, yes, there are various learning points. When we contract for software as a service, we all know that there will be certain risks involved when we subscribe to any of these software as a service. So, that is a given. In the selection process, I think one of the things in any agencies, government or commercial, that we must be conscious of is that we can make a choice between two extremes. One is subscribe to a service that is generally available but not customised. It may not meet your needs but it may be more accessible. The other one is that you can try to make it much more customised according to your needs but you require a unique solution. Somewhere between these two, you must find that balance because both sides have risks, whether you use a widely accessible software as a service solution, which has its pluses and minuses – you can change and evolve much faster because the subscriber base is much bigger, but you may not have all the services you require. If you go for customised service, you might not have all the services and the updates as quickly as you want because it is much more customised, according to your needs. So, somewhere between these two, we must always find the balance, according to the different risk profiles and the different needs.”
“The answer is yes, but I want to put in context the scale of the issue. I think I have shared how many students are involved – it is not as if all the students lost everything. The students actually do have access to various resources and so forth. So, at the local school level, where it is not national examinations, we have made the local adjustments according to the school's circumstances and needs. I think my school leaders have done that. At the national level, for national examinations, the number of students where we need to make special adjustments because some of their work in preparation for the particular subject was done in the iPad, the numbers were less than 60.”
“We are at the preliminary stage of looking at the experiences of these few schools. So, that is why, going forward, we will have to see what type of screen time for what purpose, what amount and what age.”
“Okay. Mr Speaker, on the five supplementary questions that were asked, I will reply one at a time. First, no, I think it is not about whether we are over-reliant or not over-reliant. We will have to learn to use technology, couple that with the best pedagogical practices, and that balance will continue to evolve as our society evolves. So, that is the first point. Second, yes, we are concerned with screen time but we are also concerned with the type of screen time and the ages at which people are exposed to screen time. I have explained in this House before, that at different ages we are concerned with different types of screen time. For the very, very young, if they are watching a YouTube movie unsupervised, that has probably the greatest damage and is our greatest concern. When they are a bit older, it might be games. And when they are even older, it might be social media. So, it depends on what they use the screen time for. If they use the screen time for educational purposes and are supervised, and have constant interactions with adults, I think the effect is quite different from what we have described just now. On the use of iPads and devices for primary school education, at this point in time, MOE has not made a decision to issue --- In fact, we have made a decision not to issue personal learning devices to all primary schools. But having said that, we do allow our primary schools to use electronic devices for education purposes and they share the resources around. So, it is not a personal learning device; it is a group learning device and so forth. We had a few schools that have embarked on a trial to see the more intensive use of learning devices in schools with the supervision of the teachers.”
“Every one of us have to do our own individual back-up on certain parts of the notes that we want and there are also system level back-ups on the system level issues. But it will not be possible for the system to back up the individual one, all the time, because the individual, you need to decide what you want to back up. You will need to decide. Take our smartphone as an example. I am quite sure all of us will store some things in our smartphones. We will back up what we want in a smartphone, be it photos or notes, but it would not be that Apple will back up everything for us, unless you do an auto setting for everything to be backed up onto the cloud storage. This is the reason why most of our students, the vast majority of our students have been able to back up their notes and information on the cloud, and most of them were able to recover most of the information. There is only a very small percentage of students who were unable to recover data because they did not back up individually and those parts of the data were not backed up. The numbers, I have stated in my answer.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, let me answer the three supplementary questions in reverse order. For any software as a system, before we acquire the system — and by the way, I think nowadays, all of us use software as a service, SAAS. Today, in all our mobile devices or otherwise, we have such things there. Before we acquire a service, we do various tests and we make sure that the various systems are also up to the international standards. That is what we do, before we subscribe to any service. Similar to Mobile Guardian, similar to other services, we look at the price quality matrices to see which service meets our needs and is at a price that is reasonable for our needs. The second one is that in any penetration test, be it the one in June or subsequent to it, whenever there is a penetration test and the results are found, then there will be a series of patches that will be implemented progressively to fix the issues. What we can say is that the issues that were found in June, July onwards, were progressively being fixed. Did any of this contribute directly or indirectly to the subsequent cyber attack? I will not be able to comment on this at this point in time, until the full forensic is out. On his first supplementary question, I think it is an important lesson that in an era where we are all dependent on technology, to regularly back up our own systems. I would say that even before technology comes about, even once upon a time when we take notes with pen and paper, I think we also did the necessary back-up because it is just a good habit for us to do so. Having said that, we also know just as how we manage our own personal devices and Government devices, there are two levels of back-up.”
“Then, there are cascading, different levels of security required. It is a risk-based approach that we adopt. In managing our cybersecurity, from the highest CII level to the other levels, there will be different resources required, there will be different areas of focus required. We cannot be adopting the same defence posture for all the different systems. I just hope that we have a shared understanding in this House on this. Having said that, while there might be differing levels of security and resources devoted to different systems, whenever there is an incident, it is in the collective interest of all of us to learn from it to see how the system might have been compromised or penetrated. This is why when something like that happens, we require any contractor to do their own independent forensic investigation, let us know the results. We will also do our own independent forensic to see whether the results match or whether there are blind spots that each of us may not have been able to detect prior to that. It is a tiered and risk-based approach. I would not use the phrase that we have the same level of security and safety for all systems because I do not think that will be practical and I do not think that is the end goal of what we are trying to achieve.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, one short answer to the first supplementary question and a slightly longer elaboration to the second. First, we asked Mobile Guardian to do the independent forensic investigation and we also did our own. That is the short answer. So that we can see the results of both and that is why I have explained in my answer that we have found new vulnerabilities. I want to explain that every time we do regular penetration tests, we will have to regularly update the app. It is not possible to say you do a test one time and you will be safe forever. That is not the concept in cybersecurity. Threats are emerging every day, every other moment and we have to just make sure we regularly do our checks to make sure that things are okay. On the second question, I would rephrase what Dr Tan had said slightly differently. When you say same level of safety and security for all systems, I think that is not the right basis for us to work on. Let me explain. The attack surface is wide in the cyber security domain. It is not possible for us to defend everywhere with the same resources, with the same level of focus. In the military, there is a saying that if you defend everywhere, you defend nowhere. In any system, whether big or small, personal or national, government or non-government, we will have to prioritise our resources to see where are the most critical areas that we need to defend against and invest more resources in. For example, in our national framework – in a separate PQ answer, I think MDDI will share this – is that at the highest level, we have what we call the Critical Information Infrastructure, the CII. This is the type of systems we will devote the most resources to, to make sure that they are the most robust.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the answer is yes. We would like to re-install a DMA for all devices and the reason is very simple. With the experience that we have gained, a DMA has been very helpful in helping us to deter people from entering unsavoury sites, maybe intentionally or unintentionally. Every year, every month, not an insignificant amount of sites or attempts at entry to such sites were blocked. So, there is a need for the cybersecurity, the cyber hygiene and the cyber wellness of our students that they have such a DMA. Having said that, I would also want to say that a DMA also provides a range of options that MOE can work with parents on their desired and appropriate level of controls. By and large, about three quarters of all parents will adopt the baseline default settings of a DMA for the devices. The other 25%, or one quarter of them, are split between some who wanted stricter controls; and some who want less strict controls. We are able to cater to the different needs of the parents.”
“While the recent spate of incidents was highly unfortunate, this must not deter us from delivering education through technology as they enrich our students' learning experiences. We must learn to embrace educational technology in our teaching and learning so that our students grow up to be digitally savvy, able to navigate digital environments and take on the opportunities and challenges of the future. All of us can learn from this incident. It is an important reminder for all of us to practise good digital hygiene, including the regular backing up of information.”
“We thank the vigilant members of the public who had flagged the potential vulnerability, our colleagues in the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) and the Cybersecurity Agency (CSA), and also the media community, who rallied around MOE to give the much-needed support, which helped our students learn the positives during this incident. MOE requires our IT service providers to keep our systems and data safe. Our forensic investigations with GovTech and CSA into the 4 August incident, found a new vulnerability in the Mobile Guardian system that could allow an individual to carry out the attack. This is a timely reminder that cyber threats can evolve quickly. While no security test can be entirely exhaustive, MOE expects its contractors to regularly assess and strengthen their system's security posture. Due to this incident, MOE has decided to cease the use of Mobile Guardian in all PLDs. MOE has also taken legal actions against the relevant contractors. MOE is currently studying options for an alternative DMA solution for iPad and Chromebook PLDs. We will work towards rolling out the new DMA solution by the new school year in January 2025. Until the new DMA solution is in place, schools have instituted additional processes to ensure that the PLDs are used safely and responsibly during school hours. MOE has activated web filtering through the Google Admin Console or Chromebook PLDs and through Parents Gateway, shared instructions on how to activate Apple's built-in parental controls on iPads. This way, parents can set boundaries, like screen time, routines and restrict access to unsavoury sites.”
“To rectify the misconfiguration, an online update to the Mobile Guardian application was immediately deployed to all iPad users. Five days later, on 4 August, Mobile Guardian suffered a cyberattack, which remotely wiped out the iPads of some of their global customers, including 13,000 PLDs in our schools or approximately 8% of devices used by our secondary school population. To contain the breach, Mobile Guardian immediately shut down their servers. As a precautionary measure, MOE embarked on the systematic removal of the Mobile Guardian app from all iPad and Chromebook PLDs the next day. Our priority was to help affected students, particularly those sitting for national examinations, so that learning and revision could continue. We deployed over 300 additional IT engineers and staff to schools to help students restore their devices as well as provided instruction sheets to those students who wanted to troubleshoot their own devices. All devices have since been restored for use last month. About one in six of the 13,000 affected PLDs lost some degree of data and less than 5% were unable to recover all their data, as their devices had previously not been backed up. During this period, schools made available hard copy learning resources while supporting students who were emotionally affected. Deadlines for assignments were extended and weighted assessments postponed, where needed. Students can continue to access learning resources on the Singapore Student Learning Space, or SLS. Through this episode, it was most heartening to see many of our students step forward and proactively share their personal notes with classmates and organise study sessions to do revision for their tests and examinations together.”
“MOE immediately registered strong dissatisfaction to Mobile Guardian over the incident and asked that an independent forensic investigator be appointed to evaluate Mobile Guardian systems and processes, and make recommendations to prevent a recurrence. Subsequent findings from the forensic investigator pointed to poor password management practices and Mobile Guardian responded by implementing additional security measures, such as strengthening authentication controls and fixing vulnerabilities. These enhancements were deployed on 31 May. On the night of 30 May, a member of the public reported a potential vulnerability in the Mobile Guardian app to MOE. Our information technology (IT) security team immediately investigated the report in the morning of 31 May. However, as explained earlier, because Mobile Guardian had rolled out a patch just before, attempts to replicate the vulnerability disclosed by the member of public was not successful. An independent certified penetration tester engaged by Mobile Guardian to conduct additional penetration tests in June further confirmed that this vulnerability reported by the member of the public, had been closed. The independent test uncovered new vulnerabilities, which Mobile Guardian had committed to fix. However, before it could complete the work, some schools started reporting, on 30 July, that some PLDs had lost the ability to connect to the Internet and, in some cases, total loss of usage. We quickly established then that this glitch was not related to the April data breach incident, neither was it a cyberattack. Instead, it was due to a human error by a Mobile Guardian engineer, who configured a wrong expiry date, causing the app to stop working.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, my response will cover the Oral PQs raised by Dr Tan Wu Meng, Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Darryl David, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Mr Christopher de Souza, Mr Sharael Taha, Mr Dennis Tan, Mr Gerald Giam, Ms He Ting Ru and Ms Hazel Poa. In addition, I will also address two Written PQs by Ms Joan Pereira and Mr Gerald Giam, and I invite Members to seek clarifications, as needed. Mr Speaker, Sir, Members have asked for the reasons behind the continued use of Mobile Guardians' Device Management Application, or DMA, after the data breach incident in April this year; details of the technical issue in July; the cybersecurity incident in August; and the support provided to affected students and our approach to using technology for teaching and learning following this episode. Sir, let me, first, recap the purpose of the DMA. The DMA supports students, as they learn, to use their personal learning devices (PLDs) safely and responsibly. For example, DMA blocks students' access to undesirable Internet content, such as gambling or pornography, and sets screen time limits. I will now share what happened in April and the actions taken by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The incident in April was due to poor password management practice within Mobile Guardian, allowing the attacker to gain unauthorised access to Mobile Guardians' Management Portal, which led to the data breach. To ensure continued safe use, Mobile Guardian immediately locked down its admin accounts and mandated all account holders to change their passwords. As I had told this House in May, Mobile Guardians' Management Portal is used for administrative purposes and does not have the ability to change any configuration on students' PLDs. The Mobile Guardian app was, thus, not affected during the April incident.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to take the next 11 Parliamentary Questions (PQs) together?”
“MOE, both for the mainstream schools and in the SPED schools, is keenly aware that the increase in shared parental leave and other leave schemes will have an impact on our workforce because many of the people at the child-bearing age are with us in MOE and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). I think we are the largest shareholder in this segment of the population. Having said that, that is why we need to make sure that we put in place measures, particularly, in the SPED schools, to make sure that we have a pool of relief teachers who can come in and help our SPED teachers when they need to go on leave – if they go on maternity leave, on urgent medical leave, or if they just have to take some time off to go and attend courses. But I must say this, and we need the support of everyone here, because finding relief teachers to come into the SPED schools is one order of magnitude more difficult than finding relief teachers for the mainstream schools. A Math teacher can go in and teach Math in a larger number of mainstream schools. A SPED teacher that specialises in a special needs profile is more likely to only be able to cater to that profile of students and their needs. So, for us to build up that pool, it is not something that is easy, but it is something that MOE is committed to working on with MSF, the SSAs and our SPED schools, to build this up progressively. I look forward to everyone's support.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Ms Denise Phua for the three points. We agree with the three points. The first point is that we are indeed looking at the non-teaching staff as part of the entire ecosystem. So, I want to assure everyone that it is not that we are just looking at the SPED or the mainstream teachers alone. Both the SPED and the mainstream sectors, both the teachers and the non-teaching staff, we are looking at it holistically, because they all form the collective community who take care of our children, SPED or otherwise. That is the first point. Second, indeed, one of the reasons why we want to form these Communities of Practice is because the SPED specialisations are much more finely calibrated than in the mainstream schools. This is where a different SPED profile will require teachers with different background and training. We have collective agreement with all the SPED schools and the SSAs that we must come together. We can no longer just operate as a fragmented sector, where each and every one of us are just trying to do the best for ourselves. That, in itself, is necessary, but not sufficient. We need to come together as a sector and ask ourselves, how can we share the best practices and also learn from other countries where there are better or different practices from us. For example, even just within autism, Ms Denise Phua will know that there is a wide spectrum of different needs, from mild to serious. There are also different intervention techniques. We want to be able to level up the professional competencies of our SPED school teachers and community, and this is why coming together, having each other as partners in the journey is so important to levelling up the competencies and professionalism of our SPED sector. Last but not least, the third point.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, let me address the two supplementary questions from Mr Patrick Tay. On the second issue, yes, MOE is making available and expanding our resources available to all our teachers from both mainstream and SPED schools to see how we can better help them manage their mental health, because only with well-balanced happy teachers, will we have well-balanced and happy students. On the first issue, yes, we acknowledge that for some of the SPED schools, the physical risks to our teachers can be much higher than the rest. And we will have to tackle these issues in various ways. First, it will be the kind of teaching support that we give to our teachers. Second, it is the kind of training that we give to our teachers and the Allied Professionals. And third, it is the kind of infrastructure design that we have in order to allow our teachers to have the comfort and the peace of mind that should something happen, there are ways that we can support them. This can range from rooms for the child who is having a meltdown to calm down, to places whereby our teachers can also have a respite from their duties, taking care of the special needs children, who are also very high-needs children.”
“Fifth, MOE will work with the SSAs to see how we can better achieve economies of scale in administration and infrastructure support, without losing the nimbleness required to cater to the unique needs for the respective SPED schools. Just as in the mainstream education sector, teachers are key in the SPED sector. We must continue to take care of our SPED teachers and strengthen the professional capabilities in SPED so that SPED students can grow up to be active in the community or the workplace and valued by society. Achieving this will require the collective effort of the SSAs and SPED schools, which MOE is committed to support. The key to managing the workload must be our ability to grow and work together, not just on the quantity of our SPED teachers, but also the quality of our SPED teachers, beyond the respective SPED school level. I am glad to share that we have gotten in-principle support from our SPED school community to work towards these collective goals as a sector.”
“This is also a more systematic approach to support the professional development of our SPED teachers and leaders. I look forward to the various SPED schools, serving the same segment of special needs, coming together to lead these Communities of Practice and share their best practices. Second, SPED educators have told me that it is not easy to take time off work to go for training and professional development. MOE will work with our SPED Schools and SSAs to jointly develop a pool of relief teachers who can step in when needed, so that SPED teachers can go for training and be supported when they need to be away for other reasons such as medical or urgent leave. Third, to strengthen their manpower resourcing, MOE will explore working with SPED schools to do joint marketing as a sector to better recruit teachers and improve their human resource management and processes. I look forward to working with our SSAs and SPED schools to make the career of our SPED teachers as respected, as professionally enriching and as personally satisfying as being a mainstream teacher. Where SPED teachers and leaders can have the confidence that their progression and development will parallel that of our mainstream teachers as a system at the sector level, rather than just within a SPED school. Fourth, MOE is also in discussions with SPED schools and SSAs on how we can provide mainstream and SPED teachers with the opportunities to learn from each other, either through attachments or possibly even rotations, so as to appreciate other student profiles and contexts. This is similar to the current arrangement where we have teachers from MOE schools seconded to SPED schools.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, many of us know that the work of our special education (SPED) teachers is emotionally and physically taxing, and we are thankful for their strong commitment. The Ministry of Education (MOE) works closely with the social service agencies (SSAs) running SPED schools to support our teachers' well-being. In the immediate term, SPED schools will implement the Journeys of Excellence Package. This package was developed by MOE in collaboration with SPED schools and includes funding support for competitive salaries and professional development support to enhance the professionalism of teachers. SPED schools will also appoint a school staff developer to look after the learning needs of our teachers. This package will strengthen the hiring and retention of teachers to help address the high workload in our SPED schools. SPED schools are also implementing measures to further improve teachers' workload and well-being. Parents are reminded to respect teachers' personal time outside of working hours. During the school holidays, teaching staff are given protected time to recharge. Teachers can also reach out to their school leaders directly for support, including to raise concerns or seek advice. More importantly, in the medium to longer term, MOE is working with the SSAs and SPED schools on the following efforts, as they may be more effective at the sector level, rather than the individual school level. First, MOE will work with SSAs and SPED schools to deepen the professional capabilities in our SPED teachers and leaders with deep knowledge and practice in curriculum and some specialisation in the various disability profiles. To be effective, this will be done collectively across the SSAs and SPED schools, rather than each school developing its expertise on its own.”
“Maybe we should just reframe our mind and say there are different types of abilities, different dimensions of abilities; not whether it is high, whether it is low, left, right, front, centre. Those are not very helpful. Let us help our children understand and appreciate their diverse abilities, find confidence in developing those abilities so that, in time to come, they can make the best use of those abilities to make a contribution to Singapore.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, indeed, the selection of all these higher-ability programmes is not to help the students to better prepare for the conventional exams. So, let me say that again. The purpose of selection for these higher-ability, or differently-abled students, is not to better prepare them for the conventional exams. They, on their own, would have done very well for their conventional exams. Our role is to provide them with more opportunities to stretch their abilities in different dimensions. Let me give an example. If someone is selected for the English programme, that person may be highly, more able in languages and we would like to expose them to different genres of literature, expose them to different kinds of linguistic issues that might challenge them, might stretch their abilities. Likewise, for Mathematics, we may expose the student to different kinds of concepts, different kinds of challenges to see how they respond to these. We want to make sure that the student understands that when they join a module, there is no stigma to leave the module if they find it unsuitable for themselves or if they want to go and take time to pursue other things during that phase of their life. We want everyone to understand that when you are chosen, you have certain abilities in certain areas. But that does not mean that they have abilities in all areas. So, neither should the student feel, "I must excel in all areas just because I have been chosen". Finally, I might say this. I have thought very hard and I have not come to an answer yet, because I think whenever we use the phrases "higher-ability programme", "gifted programme", there seems to be a suggestion that, somehow, if there is a high, there must be a low. If you are gifted, there must be a non-gifted.”
“This is the spirit behind what we do in the education system: allow every student to understand each and every of their strengths and weaknesses; know and have in them the mindset that, "while I may be strong in something, I need not be strong in everything and I must respect other people who are strong in other things that are different from me". Together, with our diversity of strengths, we can build a better Singapore.”