Lee Yock Suan
Singapore
“The position will be clear when the regulations have been drafted. Right now we are debating it in the absence of actual wording of the regulations. The regulations will be fair, they are meant to maintain a level playing field, and we should wait for the regulations before we pass judgement. The intention is not to go after everybody.”
“I think the Member will be aware that Internet is a very dangerous place. We can have all kinds of poison letters and they will just spread like wild fire. So we must have some means to try and minimise this and make sure that everything is orderly and fair.”
“The other Members have no problem supporting the Bill, including Mr Chiam. I think the position is about 95% clear. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Lee Yock Suan].”
“Then we will have to see the actual situation. But, as I said, the intention is to go after the popular sites, the main sites of parties and non-party political sites. If it is an individual, eg, a young man posting up his own site and saying "These are my views", we are not going to go after those people.”
“The intention is to make the rules clear for the main parties involved in the contest, in other words, the party websites. These are the areas we are mainly after.”
“I thank Mr Chiam for reminding me about his question. On listening to his speech, I was under the impression that he was asking whether this ban on opinion polls applies to the mass media. The answer is yes, it applies to all media, not just the Internet but also newspapers, TV and so on. Thank you for pointing this out.”
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“Dr Lee Tsao Yuan spoke on the importance of regionalising our educational services. As noted by her, the NUS Business Administration Faculty and NTU's Nanyang Business School already run MBA and executive management programmes that take in foreign students. They are essentially self-financing and are either taught by NUS or NTU academic staff only or co-taught with foreign academics. The MBA Programme in Chinese at NUS, for example, has over 70% of its full-time students from overseas. Other shorter executive programmes conducted by both universities have attracted participants from some 73 countries in the region and outside. Among other areas, the two universities are developing an expertise on economic and business practices in the region. This expertise will be valuable to students in Asia as well as westerners who are interested in participating in the growth of the region. 1.00 pm Dr Lee has suggested that business and management programmes be established abroad as well. NUS and NTU have already begun to do this. Short executive development programmes have been initiated, usually in collaboration with local institutions, in various countries around the region, including Malaysia, Thailand and the PRC. In April 1996, NUS will bring the prestigious joint Stanford University-NUS executive programmes to Hong Kong. In June 1995, NTU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop an undergraduate accountancy degree programme at Fudan University in the PRC. Besides business courses, we are also attracting students here to study English, computing and other subjects. Whilst we should do more to export our educational service, it is manpower-intensive and requires high level manpower.”
“As Members may have read in the newspapers, we are posting some officers to Bangkok to study how we can start such a programme in Bangkok to cater to the learning of mother tongue. Depending on the experience of that scheme, we may extend it to other areas. Dr Arthur Beng also asked whether tax deductions could be given for children who accompany their parents on overseas postings. The Finance Minister is not here. This matter really has to be referred to him. I am not sure whether it is necessary and how it will work out. Most employers do provide child educational allowances as part of the remuneration package for employees posted overseas. The Ministry will continue to be flexible in the application of our bilingual policy to ensure that pupils returning from abroad are not disadvantaged. Pupils who have been overseas for some time and have not been able to maintain their exposure to the mother tongue can apply to offer another foreign language instead or apply for exemption from offering a second language. The Ministry will consider each case individually. Dr Arthur Beng yesterday raised a case of one family with two children. One is 10 years old, coming back at Primary Three. So he is exempted from doing the mother tongue for the PSLE, because it is not reasonable to expect the child to complete the primary school syllabus in just three years. However, the younger child who joins at Primary One is required to do Chinese and to take the PSLE in Chinese. I think this is reasonable because most of our Singaporean children, in fact, are doing the same thing, even though this particular child has missed out on the kindergarten part of it. If need be, additional help can be given to the child to help overcome the initial bridging problems.”
“We also make sure that we have a good distribution of teachers and principals to the different schools and there is no discrimination against neighbourhood schools. As I have explained before, the teachers who are good in teaching the average children may not be the same teachers who are good in teaching very bright children. So we have to try and make sure that we match the requirements. The focus on the neighbourhood schools is to try and upgrade them and in the process uplift the education standards in all our schools. To recognise the good work put in by the neighbourhood schools, the Ministry of Eduction has given special awards to top value-added schools in the 1994 GCE `O' level examination. Of the 31 schools which received the awards, 84% were neighbourhood schools. The good leadership in these schools as well as the hard work and dedication of the teachers are recognised and publicised through these awards which will be given annually. Next, I turn to the question raised by Dr Arthur Beng. He was speaking on behalf of parents who have to work overseas. As Members know, we have a school in Hong Kong at primary level and we are able to do that because there is a critical mass of Singaporean students there. I think the school has been doing very well and we are proud of it. The Ministry will consider having similar schools elsewhere provided there is enough number of students to form a school. Where there are not enough students, a more practical approach for parents is to put their children in International Schools. Where they want to supplement the curriculum of the International Schools with learning of mother tongue, this is an area where we can assist.”
“The progress of the two universities in research has been good and the research output has been laudable as evident in the increasing list of research publications. In 1994, it amounted to about 3,700, an increase of 16% over that in 1993, and many of these are published in international revered journals. So far, 40 patents have been filed or granted. In addition, since 1994, NUS and NTU have formed four and two spin-off companies from their respective research activities. All these developments have placed our universities in good stead, relative to reputable foreign universities. NUS and NTU will continue to strive for excellence in their R&D activities. They will form a basis for wealth creation in the economy through the continual transfer of technology to industry. Next, I like to move on to this question of the neighbourhood schools which was raised by Dr Ong Chit Chung. I agree with him that we should pay utmost attention to these schools because these are the schools where most of our students are and, in fact, we are doing that. So, in that sense, there is really no need for a special unit in the Ministry to do this because the whole Ministry is actually doing it. Neighbourhood schools are equally well provided for in terms of staff and facilities. Many neighbourhood schools have been given new and modern buildings with excellent facilities, and other neighbourhood schools have been physically upgraded. For example, under the rebuilding and extension programme still in progress for 37 secondary schools costing $566 million, 31 are neighbourhood schools. So it is fair. In fact, the majority are neighbourhood schools.”
“So I would like to assure him that all students who complete their 10 years of general education will have the opportunity to progress further and complete their education locally at the ITE, the polytechnics or the universities. In terms of numbers, the polytechnics will be taking in, in total, about 16,000 students. Some of them will upgrade to degrees either immediately after completion of the polytechnic education or later on. And very often, it is in related areas. For example, engineering students with a diploma in engineering tend to go into a degree in engineering. So there is, in fact, no loss of relevance in that sense. We are comfortable that the output will be adequate to meet our needs. Mr Umar has stressed the importance of upgrading the quality of our universities through research and so on, and I agree fully with him. I think the two universities that we have are doing well. They are improving in their standards year by year and also in terms of the work that they are doing in R&D. We should do our best to build up the two universities into world-class universities, at least in some areas of specialisation. I would give Members some ideas about the amount of money we are spending on research. In the last two years, about $119 million had been committed to fund approved research projects. The main source of funding is the academic research fund, while the National Science and Technology Board, other statutory boards and industries also make contributions. In addition, an amount of $32 million was given out as research scholarships and studentships to post-graduate research students in the universities. This is to attract more people to undertake post-graduate research work and to build up Singapore's R&D manpower.”
“The second major challenge for them is to ensure that our students, besides possessing basic technical knowledge and skills, are also flexible and adaptable. They must be able to continually learn and upgrade themselves so as to keep up with new demands and rapid technological changes at the workplace. Mr Kenneth Chen was concerned that, with the improvement in the school results year by year, the better students will displace the weaker ones going to the polytechnics. I share his concern to some extent about this gradual erosion of the educational qualifications. This is partly because our students are performing much better than students in the United Kingdom. And as Members know, we are having these GCE `O' and `A' level examinations together with the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. The problem is that the educational standards have been declining in the western countries. Our students here have been very hardworking and we have stuck to the traditional methods where we assess the students regularly and set high standards for them. Our students have been improving year by year. But some of the improvements in results may have been because, as I said, the standards may have been falling over the years. The question is whether our distribution of places in universities, in polytechnics, in the ITE, is appropriate for our needs. And if we maintain standards and make sure that we take in students who are really able to go through the course, then it should not matter despite this grade inflation. In practice, for example, the students who are going to polytechnics, the better `O' level students, are mainly going into commerce related subjects and other students who want to go into engineering and so forth are still able to find places.”
“This is one way to attract talent and to provide a more stimulating environment in our universities. At present, foreign students make up less than 10% of the enrolment in NUS and NTU. The admission of foreign students into our universities will not be at the expense of our own students. I wish to assure all Singaporeans that NUS and NTU will take in as many local students as are able to benefit from the programmes and pass. Foreign students have to pay higher fees. They also have to be academically better than local students to qualify. The number of places for foreign students is over and above those provided for local students. If there are more qualified applicants, both local and foreign, we are prepared to provide more university places to accommodate them. In our manpower planning, it is important that we try and match the output of graduates in different disciplines with future demand. We also need to spread our talent to the different specialisations. Students and parents tend to over-react to short-term market perceptions, for example, more students are gravitating to business courses at the expense of engineering and science. We need to guide them in their choices. Otherwise, competition for places is based on `A' level results, except for some courses like medicine, law and architecture where they require interviews and selection tests. Those who do better in the `A' level results and at the interviews are more likely to get places of their choice. I think this answer also covers the points raised by Mr Umar essentially. The main challenges that the polytechnics will be facing in future will be, firstly, to make sure that the courses remain relevant to the needs of industry. This is very important.”
“Through the provision of training places in the relevant areas and at various levels, we also try to match our output of educated and trained manpower with the needs of our economy. Mindful of Singaporeans' aspirations, the Government has in recent years also allowed various professional organisations, such as the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and the Institute of Banking and Finance to collaborate with foreign universities which offer degree programmes here on part-time or full-time basis. Total enrolment is about 10,000 students in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including about 3,000 in the Open University Degree Programmes at SIM. 12.45 pm My Ministry has been reviewing the situation and may selectively allow a few more such degree programmes to be offered here. The type and form of such programmes are still under consideration. However, we should be mindful that private organisations are profit-oriented and may not have the standard of quality control that we desire. Our booming economy is faced with a manpower supply constraint not only in numbers but also in terms of talent distribution. Not everyone can make it through a rigorous university programme. However, with affluence, many Singaporeans will aspire to pursue some kind of degree programme here or overseas. They should ask themselves whether the investment is worthwhile and the programme is of acceptable quality. Ultimately, the market will find its own level as employers become more discerning but the process is wasteful and will lead to unfulfilled expectations. To make up for our shortfall in manpower, we must continue to attract talent from abroad. Here, I am pleased to note that Mr Chiam supports the admission of more foreign students into our universities.”
“There is a very wide variation in the quality and value of foreign degree programmes. This is compounded by the problem of declining educational achievement and standards as some countries have embarked on so-called mass production of graduates on weaker educational foundations. Over-expansion of capacity and funding difficulties have led to aggressive marketing overseas. In Singapore, we have rapidly expanded undergraduate places at NUS and NTU over the past decade whilst maintaining educational standards. They are taking in as many students as are able to make the grade. For some courses, such as science, there are in fact more places than qualified applicants. The two universities are also taking in more polytechnic graduates. An increasing number of able students are choosing to go into university through the polytechnic route although the vast majority still go through the junior colleges, the preferred route. The polytechnics are also serving as stepping stones to many universities in UK and Australia which provide advanced standing to polytechnic graduates in related courses. However, for the vast majority of polytechnic graduates, the three-year diploma course already provides a good foundation to start their careers and to upgrade their knowledge and skills on the job. After some working experience, they could pursue higher qualifications, if they wish, through part-time or full-time courses at our universities, polytechnics or overseas. The Government has invested heavily in our tertiary institutes to cater to the aspirations of Singaporeans to pursue further studies. Our aim is to maximise the potential of every Singaporean according to his ability and aptitude.”
“In total, we will be providing places for about 60% of each age cohort in our tertiary institutes. This is one of the highest such percentages in the world. About 10 years ago, the British converted all their polytechnics into new universities, thereby doubling the number of universities to almost 100 to achieve their target of about 30% in tertiary institutes. Several years ago, Hong Kong followed suit. Had we done something similar, we would already have six large universities for a small country of 3 million people. Mr Chiam mentioned the ratio of one university to about half a million population in Australia and New Zealand. But how big are these universities? And are they all of the university standard as we understand it? We are doing the right thing here by keeping our polytechnics as polytechnics. They have a vital role to play in educating and training our middle level manpower to provide the backbone of our economy. Overseas experts who visit or work with our polytechnics are impressed with their facilities and programmes which are better than those of some universities overseas. A former British Education Secretary told me he thought we did right in keeping the polytechnics as they were. Recent British press reports indicate that many UK employers are reluctant to accept the degrees of their new universities at face value. They insist on at least a second class Honours degree from a traditional university. Having over-expanded their capacities and with grants tied to student numbers, some universities are even taking students without 'A' levels and putting them on foundation courses. Singaporeans need to be aware of what is happening in the field of higher education overseas.”
“The BA and BSc with Diploma in Education programmes were successfully implemented. In 1995, the first batch of 83 and 30 students graduated in BA and BSc with Diploma in Education respectively. Currently, all students pursuing teaching training courses at the NIE are bonded to serve the Ministry of Education for three or five years upon completion of their course. It is difficult for me to accept at this stage Dr Ong's proposal that NIE admit fee-paying students who are not bonded to teach in our schools. One reason is that in the coming years, the requirement for NIE to train more teachers for our schools will be increased significantly. NIE does not have spare capacity to train those who may not take up teaching as a career upon the completion of their NIE studies. However, for those who are generally interested in the field of education and do not wish to be bonded to teach in a school, NIE does offer higher degree courses, such as the Master of Education and the Master of Arts and Applied Linguistics. These courses are run on a part-time basis and are open to working adults. I would like now to turn to the question of tertiary education. Several Members spoke on this yesterday. Mr Umar and Mr Chiam See Tong, who is not here, asked that we increase the university places in Singapore. In considering whether to provide more university places we should bear in mind that we already have two large universities which together will take in about 20% of each cohort after 'A' levels and four big polytechnics which will take in about 40% of a cohort after 'O' levels. Each polytechnic will take in about 4,000 new students a year, almost the same number as the intake into NUS or NTU.”
“Our aim is to help our pupils become better and more creative thinkers and learners by teaching them the core thinking skills explicitly and infusing these skills into the learning subjects in the curriculum. The revised programme is presently being piloted at Secondary 1 in five schools, as announced by Dr Aline Wong in November last year. Teachers in these schools are trained and teachers' manuals incorporating lesson plans, visual aids and pupil worksheets have been developed for the programme. The thinking programme will be phased into all secondary schools over the next four years. By the year 2000, all secondary schools will be on the programme. My Ministry recognises the importance of encouraging critical and creative thinking among our pupils from an early age. When we piloted the CORT programme in 1986, we found that the explicit teaching of thinking in primary schools was not as beneficial as incorporating thinking into the teaching of the subjects. We have therefore consciously included some critical and creative thinking skills into the teaching of language, mathematics and science in the primary school curriculum. For example, in English, pupils are taught to make comparisons and inferences in reading and comprehension and to give creative ideas in writing. In mathematics, the emphasis is on seeing relationships in patterns and on being able to solve mathematical problems. In science, pupils are taught to analyse and to make deductions and come to conclusions based on observations and simple experiments. Dr Ong Chit Chung asked yesterday about the progress of the National Institute of Education (NIE). My impression is that NIE is doing well. However, it is for Members and the public to judge.”
“Sir, I propose to answer a few of the points raised under this cut. My colleagues, Dr Aline Wong and Mr Sidek Saniff, will answer the rest. Yesterday, Mr Sinnakaruppan was commenting on the staff appraisal system in schools. The new appraisal and ranking system was implemented service-wide starting from last year. It is a rigorous system that involves not only the assessment of a teacher's performance but also his or her potential to hold higher appointments in relation to other teachers in the school. My Ministry has considered using a point system for appraisal before. However, such a system may not remove the element of subjectivity since ultimately the supervisors who are the principal, vice-principal and heads of department still have to make their judgment as to whether a particular teacher is good or bad based on his relative strengths and weaknesses in various dimensions. Moreover, there is also an element of subjectivity in deciding the relative weight to be accorded to each of these dimensions. I would like to inform the House that my Ministry is fully aware of the problems encountered by schools during the ranking exercise. Many of these are teething problems as teachers were ranked for the first time last year. My Ministry will fine-tune the system in order to iron out these problems. Both Mr Sinnakaruppan and Mr Lew Syn Pau asked about the schools' teaching of the thinking programme. My Ministry introduced in 1987, which is about 10 years ago, the Edward de Bono's CORT (Cognitive Research Trust) programme in secondary schools. At present, there are about 103 secondary schools which are implementing the CORT programme. My Ministry is refining and extending this programme to other secondary schools.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 1996/1997, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.”
“Mr Umar suggested that we should promote teachers as managers in schools, and the principals as CEOs. I think that is a good idea. In fact, that is what we are trying to do in our new pay scale. We are trying to look at the CEOs, eg, the human resource managers in small companies and compare their salaries and we find that, for example, many of them are getting salaries of about $10,000 per month. So Superscale H is roughly equivalent to that position. For independent schools, some of them have been paying their principals about $12,000 per month which is roughly equivalent to Superscale E. So we hope that with the major changes and improvements that we have made, we would be able to attract many more fresh recruits and talented people to join the Education Service. With more people joining us, the pressure on the existing teachers will be reduced because then they can share out the load. Let me give Members an idea of our problems in recent years. Over the last five years, MOE was only able to attain about 55% to 70% of our annual recruitment targets. So that has been the situation over the past few years. It is really important that we do something about it now, especially in view of the large number of experienced teachers who are on pension and will be retiring soon. Those teachers who are on CPF are perhaps less likely to stay on for life. So we must be able to compete with the other sectors and get our fair share of the nation's talent. I think this is really vital for Singapore and there can be no compromise. We must have a good education system if we are to progress. Sir, I think I have answered all the points. [Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair] 4.30 pm”
“And I take the point that we must keep them up to date and train them, if necessary, in the latest thinking in terms of pedagogy, and so on. Mr Lew Syn Pau asked about male teachers. I am pleased to tell him that, in the recent recruitment exercises, we have more success in getting male teachers. For example, in 1991, the percentage of male teachers appointed was only 19%. In 1992, it was 18%, a slight drop. But in 1993, the percentage went up to 25%. In 1994, it was 26% and, in 1995, 28%. So we are hopeful that there are some signs that the men are also finding teaching to be an attractive profession. Hopefully, we will be able to raise the percentage of male teachers so that they can be male models for their students. From the figures, it would appear that the percentage of male teachers has stabilised at about 30% of the total teaching force. In addition, we are also trying out other schemes, eg, the SAF scheme. The first batch of 14 SAF officers was appointed in June last year and deployed to our secondary schools after a six-month Modified Certificate in PE Course conducted by NIE. They took a bit of time to adjust to the school setting. However, most of them have settled in now and are performing reasonably well. One has been made a Head of Discipline, very appropriate I think, and one or two have been earmarked for the Sports Secretary posts in the schools. The second batch of nine officers will be appointed in June 1996. Recruitment for the next batch will commence in the later part of this year. I take his point that we need not restrict the SAF officers only to PE although they are most appropriate for that. If they have the appropriate knowledge and can be upgraded, we can perhaps even consider them for other teaching subjects.”
“Mr Low Thia Khiang has asked about inducing people from other professions and those in mid-career to join the service. We are already doing that, and we welcome applicants from all over, not only fresh graduates but those who are in their mid-career to come and join the teaching profession. In fact, over the last three years, nearly 50% of the applications that we received came from past year graduate batches although we did not know exactly what jobs they were in, in terms of data collection. So actually they were people from past batches, not the current batch. I presume they may have been working somewhere and have decided to join teaching. Mr Choo Wee Khiang suggested that we have some flexibility in our employment terms and allow part-time work. I agree with him that this is something we can explore. For example, retirees might not want to take on the full teaching load. So we have to see how we can design a system to give them commensurate reward for the kind of service they can provide. As it is, we already have an Associate Teachers Scheme to encourage retired teachers, who have reached the compulsory retirement age of 60, to be re-employed in the Education Service. They are employed on a yearly contract on the last drawn salary and I think this is fairly attractive for them. As for the training of relief teachers, this is something that has to be looked into. We are not sure whether it is practical because they are with us only for a short time, especially in the case of the `A' level students and others who are waiting to join the university. But, in practice, many of the relief teachers are actually ex-teachers or retired teachers.”
“If we can find more clerks, for example, and the money is available, then perhaps the load on the teachers can be reduced and they can then concentrate on their professional duties. One idea that we have is to appoint somebody called the school administrator, an equivalent of an executive officer, in schools to help lighten the load on the principals, HODs and others. This is now being seriously studied and we hope we will be able to find the necessary bodies to fill these positions. Mr Sinnakaruppan suggested that we give prestigious scholarships to encourage people to take up teaching. In fact, this is already being done. We have some outstanding officers who have gone overseas under the PSC Overseas Merit Scholarship Scheme, including some President's Scholars, and I am happy they are serving with us in the HQ and making a good contribution. We have a Talent Management Scheme in the Ministry which started recently. So our idea is to talent spot good people and groom them and prepare them for more senior and more demanding positions. The idea is to put them through various positions and train them up and promote them faster so that they will be able to keep up with their peers who are in the other professional services. Mr Sinnakaruppan also suggested that we should make every school an autonomous school. To some extent, the schools already enjoy a great deal of autonomy because it is just not practical for the Ministry to manage so many schools. There are a total of about 400 schools. So in actual fact, the schools have a lot of freedom to operate on their own so long as they comply with the basic policies. We will have to see how the autonomous schools shape up and how we can learn from them to give the schools even greater say in the management of the schools.”
“It is an investment in our future. [Applause]. Let me now respond to some of the points which were raised by Members earlier on. Mr Peh Chin Hua commented about the school ranking exercise. He said that he supports the exercise but there is a requirement for fine-tuning. I agree with him and the Ministry will try and improve on the ranking exercise of schools as we go along with experience year by year. Like professionals in other fields, teachers face pressures in their work. The principal of the school plays a key role in providing direction and support for the teachers' work. Before appointment as Principals, an officer would have shown leadership qualities and would have undergone training in educational administration. The Ministry of Education also continues to encourage principals to work towards collegiality, staff involvement and decision-making and ownership in schools. This, I agree, will provide a more conducive work environment for teachers. He also commented about some HQ officers who apparently appear to the teachers to have been fault-finding. Let me clarify that it is never the intention of the officers to fault-find. In helping schools to improve, Ministry of Education officers need to provide feedback and make suggestions. In the process, without intending to be so, a few could be perceived as fault-finding. There is certainly a need to be constantly aware of this pitfall. Mr Peh also mentioned about the need to reduce the administrative workload on teachers. This point I agree fully with him. This review of the salary terms and other terms of service is just the first step. My Ministry is studying what we can do further to reduce the administrative workload on teachers. The problem, as he knows, is shortage of manpower.”
“In October 1996, MOE will conduct another promotion exercise to promote HODs and HQ officers in equivalent positions into the SEO grades for the first time. Outstanding teachers will be promoted to the new Senior Teacher grade beginning in June 1997. Salary adjustment for younger serving GEOs The new terms for recruitment will take effect from July 1996. MOE will also make the following one-time transitional adjustments: (a) Those still undergoing training in the NIE after July 1996 will be put on salaried terms; (b) NIE graduates of June 1996 who join the service in July 1996 will start with a salary one-point higher; and (c) Serving teachers who are in the basic grades and not promoted to the upper basic grade in the June 1996 mass promotion exercise and whose salaries are below the maximum points of the shortened basic salary scales, will have their salaries revised upwards by one increment. These would be the younger officers who do not yet qualify for promotion to upper basic grades. There are about 5,000 officers in this group. I would like to urge more of our young people to take up the challenges of the Education Service. It is a satisfying, worthwhile and rewarding career, whether teaching in a classroom or being part of the school or education management team. When all these improvements are fully implemented, they will cost the Government about $420 million more each year. This will raise MOE's Expenditure on Manpower for general education by 40%. It is a major commitment and a big sum of money to spend. But it is money well spent because it is vital to attract and retain good people to preserve and further enhance the quality of our education system. It will enable us to educate and train properly a new generation of Singaporeans for the 21st century.”
“Raising the career grade for teachers The Review Committee has also recommended and the Government has agreed that the upper basic grades (GEO 1A/2A) will be the career grades for classroom teachers. Last year, we promoted about half of the teachers who qualify for promotion to GEO 1A or 2A. MOE will mount another exercise in June this year to promote the rest. After June, more than 90% of teachers with more than 10 years' service will be in the upper basic grades, as well as a significant number of the teachers with less than 10 years' service. With this upgrading, the salary scales for the basic grades need not be so long. They will be shortened by a third. The GEO 1 scale will have 14 instead of 21 points and the non-graduate GEO 2 scale will have 18 points instead of 25. Normal classroom teachers will be promoted well within these scales to the upper basic grades. 4.15 pm Putting non-graduate officers on a faster track Non-graduate officers will also be put on a faster track to merge with the graduate scale. We will replace two existing promotional grades (SEO II and SEO IIA) with a new SEO 2 scale which is in between the old ones. In future, deserving non-graduate officers will be able to advance from the new SEO 2 directly to SEO 1, the first SEO grade for graduates, and then on to even higher levels. Extra promotion exercises MOE will bring forward its annual promotion exercise from October 1996 to June 1996. The following groups of officers will be considered in June: (a) All eligible teachers, to upper basic grades; (b) Officers in old SEO II and SEO IIA grades, to the new SEO 2 or SEO 1 grade; (c) All Principals and Vice-Principals, to and within SEO grades, including Superscale grades; and (d) Other officers within SEO grades.”
“GEOs holding positions of higher responsibility, such as Subject Heads, HODs and, in rare instances, Vice-Principals and Principals, will receive a post allowance until they are promoted to SEOs. The post allowance for GEO Principals, Vice-Principals and HODs in all schools, will be $300 per month and that of Subject or Level Heads will be $200 per month. Employing teachers and training them Thirdly, to remove the disincentive of having to train at NIE first and receive only a bursary at NIE instead of a salary, MOE will do two things: From this year, MOE will employ teachers directly, before their NIE training, and then send them at full pay to the NIE at the earliest opportunity. The trainee teachers can be employed at any time during the year, and not just at a fixed period before the NIE academic year starts. The starting salary for trainee teachers will be half an increment below the starting salary on the GEO scale. The trainee teacher's remuneration whilst at NIE, inclusive of bonus and CPF, will be about 90% higher than current bursaries, calculated on an annual basis. At NIE, trainee teachers will receive their annual salary increments when due. Upon completion of training, they will receive an extra half an increment in their salaries in recognition of the professional qualification they have just attained. The end result is that teachers, when they have finished their NIE training, will be one salary point higher on the scale than at present. This change to employ teachers and send them for training is in line with the philosophy that training is an on-going process; and the initial NIE training is but the first step in a long-term process of professional development and upgrading, which MOE takes responsibility for.”
“Officers who have the potential to rise beyond Superscale E, and hold higher responsibilities at MOE Headquarters, will reach Superscale H even earlier, by mid- to late-30s. Upgrading promotional prospects for teachers Secondly, the post of HOD will be supplemented by several new positions of Subject Head and Level Head as well as Senior Teachers. The establishment grade for Vice-Principals and HODs will also be set one level higher: Graduate Vice-Principals will be promotable up to SEO 1A and non-graduate Vice-Principals to SEO 1. HOD and other Head posts as well as Senior Teacher posts will be graded to SEO 1 for graduates and SEO 2 for non-graduates, one clear step higher than the GEO posts for ordinary classroom teachers. The new post of Senior Teacher is to recognise outstanding classroom teachers who are role models in the teaching profession, but prefer to continue teaching in classrooms rather than move to administrative or management posts. They will serve as mentors for NIE trainees and young teachers. With this, outstanding classroom teachers can have two promotions - one in the GEO grade, another to the basic SEO grade. The upgrading of middle management posts and the creation of more such posts will significantly improve the opportunities for promotion to SEO posts. Overall, one in three posts in the service will be SEO posts, compared to the one in 20 at present. In a typical school with an establishment of 75 staff, there could be about 25 posts in SEO grades compared to the mere two at the moment, ie, the Principal and Vice-Principal posts. Promotions will not be held back for lack of posts.”
“Long pay scales and very limited promotion prospects make it difficult to attract good recruits in sufficient numbers. Thirdly, new teachers are appointed to the service only after they have spent one or two additional years at the National Institute of Education (NIE) for teacher training. While at the NIE, they receive much less than the remuneration received by their peers who are starting their careers in other services. The Review Committee has recommended several changes to the Education Service to solve these problems. The Government has accepted the recommendations. I will now ask the Clerk of Parliament to distribute two sets of tables to illustrate the impact of these changes. [Copies of tables (Cols. 1781 - 1784) distributed to hon. Members.] tables - EXAMPLES OF REVISED SALARY PROGRESSION FOR EDUCATION SERVICE OFFICERS (Cols. 1781 - 1784) Upgrading of Principals Firstly, the establishment grade for graduate Principals of both the primary and secondary schools will be raised from Upper Timescale (gross annual salaries of $85,000 to $107,000) to Superscale H ($143,000). In addition, outstanding principals can be promoted beyond Superscale H, up to Superscale E ($188,000 gross annual salary). For non-graduate school Principals, the establishment grade will go up from the current SEO IIA to SEO 1. Outstanding non-graduate Principals will be promoted to SEO 1A, which is the Upper Timescale, or even to Superscale H in very exceptional cases. Both SEO 1 and SEO 1A are currently graduate officer scales. Outstanding Principals who can reach Superscale E will be promoted to Superscale H by age 40.”
“These measures have helped to improve the attractiveness of the service. But more needs to be done. The resignation rate among young officers on CPF is about 5% each year, higher than for older officers on pension. Many pensionable teachers will be reaching retirement age over the next five to 10 years. We must significantly improve the terms of the Education Service, to recruit and retain good officers in sufficient numbers. An Education Service Review Committee (ESRC) comprising senior officers from MOE and PSD was set up recently to review and propose fundamental improvements to the Education Service. The Committee has identified three key problems: Firstly, the remuneration and status of Principals are not commensurate with their heavy responsibilities. Currently, the grade of a graduate Principal is pegged to Upper Timescale. In other services, this grade is meant for heads of organisations much smaller than a school. As professional and administrative head of a school, a Principal has typically to lead a team of 50 to 70 professionals to care for 1,500 to 2,000 pupils, and deal with all matters concerning the school. The grade of a graduate Principal should extend to Superscale levels. Secondly, promotional prospects in the Education Service are poor. The grade structure is too flat and there are too few promotional posts. The service today has about 22,000 officers who make up nearly 40% of the civil service. But only 5% of the posts are Senior Education Officer (SEO) posts. These are the Principal, Vice-Principal, Head of Department (HOD) in junior colleges and centralised institutes, and certain HQ appointments. In secondary and primary schools, HODs are banded with the teachers in the General Education Officer (GEO) grades.”
“Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to join in the debate at this point. I did a count of the number of cuts under this item alone and there are a total of 44. This must be something of a record. In view of the importance of this item, I think it is appropriate that I should respond now. I agree with all the Members who have spoken and I thank them for their impassioned pleas on behalf of the teaching profession. I think it is high time that we recognised the contributions of our long-suffering and long-serving teachers and give them due reward, due promotion prospects and due recognition. Sir, education is crucial to Singapore's continuing success. The Government has invested heavily to develop an outstanding education system for Singapore. School facilities today are much improved compared with 10 years ago, and much better than in many other countries. We will continue to invest in better schools and equip them with the latest educational technology. However, good infrastructure is not enough. The key to a good education system is people. We must have a team of dedicated and committed educators with the enthusiasm to energise our young, the teaching skills to give them a good education and the character to impart sound moral values. It is therefore imperative that the Education Service has a good share of the nation's talent. We have already made several major changes to improve personnel management in the Education Service. In 1990, we formed the Education Service Commission. In 1995, we devolved authority in personnel management to Personnel Boards so that my Ministry can directly manage promotions and recruitment of educators. Last year, it carried out two mass promotion exercises to upgrade classroom teachers.”
“Schools discipline and counsel recalcitrant pupils to improve their behaviour. They also keep parents informed of their children's misdemeanours and work with them to help improve their children's attitude. A student is expelled from school only if he commits a very serious offence such as assault and if allowing him to remain in school would threaten the safety of staff and other pupils and undermine order and discipline in the school. Expulsion is only used as a last resort when other measures such as counselling, suspension and caning have no effect on improving the student's conduct. Throughout, parents would have been kept informed and their help sought, all with the aim of reforming the student. When expulsion is unavoidable, parents are not caught by surprise by the action. There would have been many warnings that the situation is becoming intolerable. There is therefore no need for schools to give written notice to parents before expelling recalcitrant students. SPEED DETECTION CAMERAS 3. Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Home Affairs (i) the number of vehicles which have been caught; (ii) the number of drivers fined; and (iii) the total fines collected with the implementation of speed-detection cameras.”
“Yes, that is a possibility. As I have said, some parents have, in fact, on their own done so. It is not so difficult just to hire a tutor for a number of children, say, 10 children, and if they need assistance from my Ministry we will be happy to consider it. CORRECTIVE WORK ORDER (Number of first offenders) 2. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Acting Minister for the Environment how many first offenders were served with Corrective Work Order since the amendment to the Environmental Public Health Act came into effect. The Acting Minister for the Environment (RAdm Teo Chee Hean): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Corrective Work Order (CWO) was introduced in November 1992. Those convicted of a serious littering offence will be liable for CWOs issued by the court, even if they are first-time offenders. A serious littering offence includes littering with a large object, eg, a drink can, a packet of food, a cigarette pack, etc. Minor littering offences, such as littering with cigarette butts, bus tickets, etc. can be compounded with a fine of $150 after the offender attends a counselling session. However, if a person who has committed a minor littering offence is a repeat offender, then he will be liable for CWO. From November 1992 to now, out of 13,631 littering offenders, 921 or 6.8% were issued with CWOs. Of the number of CWO offenders, 737 were first offenders charged with serious littering offences. The remaining 184 were repeat offenders.”
“These are all the areas, and if there are further ways where we can facilitate their re-entry, we will be happy to look into them.”
“I think parents need not worry about this because my Ministry will assist them as far as possible. It is usually necessary for the pupils to take a test in English Language and Mathematics mainly to assess their level of competence and this is to look after the children's welfare because we do not want to put them in the wrong level. When parents go overseas, they have the advantage of exposing their children to the international situation and putting their children in international schools have its plus points. In certain places they may be worried about the second language. If they go to China, that should not be a concern if they are Chinese because that is the best place for them to get immersion in Chinese. But if there are other places like Indonesia or Brunei where the study of Chinese could be a problem, some parents have got together to organise tuition classes and recruit Chinese teachers, maybe even from China, to provide tuition. My Ministry is flexible in terms of the mother tongue language. If the children have been away for a number of years and they are due to sit for a major examination, eg, PSLE or the 'O' level, and it is quite obvious that they cannot catch up, we will not insist that they must take their mother tongue. In terms of selection of schools, we will have to be fair to them as well as to other Singaporean children so that they compete on a similar basis. For example, if they live near a particular primary school, then they should have priority for re-entry into that school or if they came from a school and had left for a number of years, I think most schools will take them back. But they cannot, because they were away overseas, expect to come back to the good schools.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, at present my Ministry has no plans to provide secondary school facilities overseas. There are two main reasons for this. One is the shortage of teachers, which is especially significant in the secondary schools, because of our recent change in the school system. In fact, we have had to recruit more than 100 teachers from Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere to supplement our teacher resources. The other reason is that we have built up boarding school facilities in Singapore. There are already two available - one in Raffles Institution and the other in Anglo Chinese School. These are for boys. Another boarding school for girls is being built in Nanyang Girls High School. There are excellent facilities being provided in the boarding schools. There will be supervision by teachers and I think it will be advantageous for the older children to come back to Singapore and be re-immersed into our school system in the boarding school. The boarding schools accept pupils whose parents are working overseas even if the pupils themselves do not study in these schools.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Singapore International School in Hong Kong was opened in September 1991 and for the first four years it functioned in temporary premises at Kennedy Town. In August 1995, it moved into its new premises in Aberdeen. As of September 1995, the enrolment of primary school pupils was 523. Of these, 274 or 52% are Singapore citizens, and 100 or 19% are Singapore permanent residents making a total of 71% Singapore citizens and permanent residents. The school offers a Singapore primary school curriculum and prepares pupils for our Primary School Leaving Examination. The school is staffed by 36 teaching staff. Of these, 17 are recruited from Singapore, the rest being Hong Kong residents. My Ministry will consider setting up similar schools in other overseas locations if there is a sufficient number of Singaporean pupils so that such a school is feasible. It will be necessary for the school to recruit many of its teachers from that location as we are short of teachers in Singapore. At present, in locations other than Hong Kong there are insufficient Singaporean pupils to make up the bulk of a school. Where private schools overseas are interested in offering the Singapore curriculum or private organisations are keen to set up private schools based on the Singapore model, they can approach my Ministry or the Singapore Teachers Union for assistance regarding syllabuses, textbooks and other aspects of the Singapore curriculum. My Ministry will also assist parents to facilitate the re-entry of their children into Singapore schools when they return.”
“The Ministry of Education (MOE) has a Pastoral Care and Career Guidance (PCCG) Branch which provides support to schools in offering guidance and counselling service to students. Principals and teachers know their students well. They are best placed to provide immediate basic counselling at the school level to help students cope with their concerns and problems. To help teachers better fulfil their role as teacher-counsellors, the PCCG Branch conducts school-based workshops on counselling skills. When students require more in-depth counselling and assistance, the PCCG Branch provides advice and, when necessary, assists schools to refer students to appropriate agencies such as the Child Psychiatric Clinic, Student Care Services and Self-Help Groups. MOE has also compiled a Directory of Social Service Agencies which schools can use for referring students directly on their own. ARRESTED SUSPECT (Contacting of family) 6. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Home Affairs, after a suspect has been taken in for an investigation, how soon the police will allow the suspect to contact his family.”
“The criteria for promotion are strictly based on merit. They are the same for all teachers regardless of the subject they teach. Officers are promoted because they rank well among other officers and deserve to be promoted. It is not useful to categorise the number of teachers promoted according to the subjects they teach since this will vary from school to school and from one promotion exercise to the next. Nevertheless, I can assure the Member that in the October 1995 promotion exercise, teachers who teach Chinese are very well represented among those promoted. COUNSELLING CENTRE 5. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Education whether he will consider setting up a counselling centre at ministry level to coordinate and provide guidance for counselling service to students.”
“My Ministry will not hesitate to increase the penalties if the situation so requires.”
“Yes, we will consider that factor. As I said, we will look into this angle when we designate future GEP centres. In fact, of the four existing primary schools offering GEP programmes, namely, Raffles Girls Primary School, Anglo Chinese Primary School (Barker Road), Nanyang Primary School and Rosyth Primary School, only one is a SAP school. So Tao Nan School will be the second SAP primary school offering the GEP programme. There are places for these other children. USING OF MOBILE PHONE WHILST DRIVING (Penalties) 8. Mr S. Chandra Das asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether he is satisfied with the current penalties imposed for using a mobile phone whilst driving a motor vehicle. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, phone driving is an inconsiderate driving behaviour which poses a danger to road-users. The police has stepped up enforcement against phone drivers. In 1994, 2,838 motorists were booked for phone driving compared with 395 in 1993. From January to August this year, 1,837 were booked for phone driving. Apart from stepping up enforcement, the police has also been encouraging motorists to install hands-free sets. Sir, although the number of motorists booked for phone driving has increased, the problem has not gone out of hand to warrant increasing the current penalties. Currently, a motorist who phone drives is committing an offence of driving without due care or reasonable consideration under section 865 of the Road Traffic Act. The penalty is a fine of $170 or $200 for drivers of light and heavy vehicles respectively. The offence also carries 9 demerit points. Sir, the police will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
“Sir, I understand that the Member has been concerned about this point for some time and she has never failed to bring up this particular angle. But our experience has been that SAP school students are able to mix with other non-Chinese students. It has not been a problem. They live in HDB neighbourhoods. Later on, they will be going to universities and polytechnics where the environment is a multi-racial one. The SAP schools also have programmes where the students inter-relate and socialise with other students to appreciate the culture of the other races. So it has not been a problem and I see no reason why we should reconsider our decision on designating Tao Nan School as a GEP centre starting from next year.”
“Sir, let me explain why Tao Nan School was chosen as the first GEP school in the eastern zone. The reason is that it has many students who qualify for the GEP programme. It also has a good standing. It is very popular among parents and has produced good results. It is also a mixed school for boys and girls. Considering all these factors, it is considered to be a good choice, especially since 97% of the GEP students are Chinese. We have deliberately placed the GEP stream within an ordinary primary school so that the GEP students are able to mix with the other students. But in this particular case, it so happens that Tao Nan School appears to be the best choice. Most of the other primary schools offering GEP programmes are, in fact, non-SAP schools. Tao Nan School happens to be a SAP school in the eastern zone and it matches the bill in terms of requirements for boy/girl ratio and so on.”
“Sir, the answer is yes, we will look into the possibility. Tao Nan School is the first of several primary schools which will be designated as GEP centres. Maybe I should give the Member some data on the distribution of GEP students. The current distribution is that about 97% of the students are Chinese. In fact, the number of non-Chinese students in the GEP programme is very small. Tao Nan School is therefore in a good position to cater to the vast majority of GEP students who live in the eastern part of Singapore. In establishing subsequent GEP centres, my Ministry will ensure that the needs and requirements of GEP students offering Malay and Tamil are also met.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, as Tao Nan School is a Special Assistance Plan (SAP) School, its Gifted Education Programme (GEP) and non-GEP classes will only teach Chinese as a mother tongue language. It will not admit non-Chinese GEP students unless they happen to be studying Chinese as a second language, eg, for children of mixed marriages. SAP schools have been designated as such to preserve the Chinese ethos, culture and discipline of the schools. It is difficult for non-Chinese students to be assimilated into such an environment.”
“On 11th February 1995, a police report pertaining to the cyanide poisoning incident was lodged by the Head of the NUS Chemistry Department at the Clementi Police Division. The case was classified as "attempted murder". The CID began an immediate and thorough investigation as soon as the report was made. The Chemistry Department co-operated fully with them during the course of their investigations. As it was an attempted murder investigation, it was inappropriate for the Department to carry out a parallel investigation. The Department took immediate measures to tighten and improve on safety and security measures. DRUG ADDICTS WHO FELL TO THEIR DEATHS 3. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Home Affairs how many suspected drug addicts fell to their deaths between January 1994 and June 1995 when drug enforcement officers raided their homes.”
“Peirce Secondary School started in January 1994. In 1994, no pupil was expelled. In 1995, one pupil was expelled. He was a persistent offender who used violence on another pupil, and continued to misbehave with no sign of repentance. To date he has rejected the Ministry's efforts to counsel and assist him. CYANIDE POISONING 2. Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Education why the National University of Singapore did not conduct its own investigation into the cyanide poisoning of its lecturers.”
“As I have explained, Sir, it depends on the subject and it depends on the situation. When you have prepared your lecture notes and you teach a class of 40 and they are all paying attention, it does not make much difference whether you are teaching 30 or 40. Maybe you have to raise your voice a bit louder because the class room is bigger. Of course, you have to mark books. There will be more books to mark. So it varies with the subject. Certain subjects like English, yes, maybe there is a heavier marking load, and maybe more individual attention is needed. So when we do have manpower resources, we should deploy them in an optimum manner, and not just by reducing class sizes across-the-board, but maybe by having a lower work load for those subjects with a heavy marking load. So it depends on a lot of factors. SYARIAH COURT (Jurisdiction on matrimonial property settlement) 11. Mr Imram bin Mohamed asked the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, in view of a recent case which ruled that the High Court had no jurisdiction over the Syariah Court on matrimonial property settlement cases, what action is being taken to resolve the situation. ADMINISTRATION OF MUSLIM LAW ACT (Update on progress) 12. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs if he will give an update on the progress made to review the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA).”
“If we study the schools that have added value, we will find that many of them have big class sizes. They tend to be more popular. So the schools tend to try to admit more pupils. The class size per se is not an important factor. It is more a question of the teaching methods, how dedicated the teachers are, do they come back for remedial lessons and so on. By changing class size, you are going to commit a lot of manpower resources. Unless we are sure that it is worthwhile, we should not do it.”
“It is true that if you want to be more effective in teaching certain things, you need to have different arrangements. For example, in universities, you have lectures for 200, 300 or even bigger numbers, and then you break them up into smaller groups for tutorials. So when we try to inculcate creative thinking, we have to do it in various ways. For example, we have to try and structure the curriculum and the contents to emphasize on the project work, problem solving, learning for themselves through the use of computers. So it does not follow that we should therefore go for smaller class sizes. It will be a factor to be considered. But until we are convinced that there is a need, we should not go that way.”
“Sir, the shortage of teachers is clearly an important consideration, but it is not the key factor. If need be, we can try and hire more teachers. The point is whether it is worthwhile putting all those resources into the education system by reducing class sizes. For example, if we were to reduce the class size from an average of 40 to an average of 30, it means that we have to increase the teaching workforce by one-third; from 20,000 to about 27,000. If we halve the class size, it means going up from 20,000 to 40,000. So it is a big question mark as to where we are going to find those teachers. But that is not the key point. The key point is that we must be sure that it is worth investing those resources. With the use of information technology, you have self-paced learning and the additional teachers could be used for enrichment. For example, in the case of RGS, which I have mentioned, it is an independent school, it has stuck to the class size of 40. It uses the additional resources for enrichment and it can use the additional teachers to lighten the loads in certain subjects like English where the marking load is high. There are other independent schools which have reduced the class sizes. Lately, they have been going back again closer to 40, because it is very costly to reduce class size, and yet the benefits are not evident.”
“Sir, for the gifted pupils, who are really the cream of our young population, we are trying to do the best we can to improve their creative thinking, their ability to learn on their own, and so on. We are trying to stretch them to the best of their ability. So for this group of pupils, we employ more interactive methods where the pupils have to do project work, to discuss and defend their position in the class and so on. If you have that kind of a situation, then maybe you do need a smaller group to be effective. But when you are lecturing to a class of, say, 200 in the university, it is no different from lecturing to a class of 40. So we have to be careful about the scenario and what we are talking about in this situation.”
“Sir, I believe some details were released some time back. I can check on that point. Dr Kanwaljit Soin (Nominated Member): Would the Minister please confirm that the classes for the Gifted Education Programme are small and, if they are, would he please explain the rationale, if studies are not conclusive, that small class sizes help?”
“Sir, the pupils' performance depends on many factors. Of course, tuition is one factor. But it also depends on how ready the pupils are for schooling. In the United States, many of the pupils enter school not prepared for schooling at all because of the family environment. The discipline situation in the class is very poor. If a teacher spends most of his time with a few pupils who are naughty, it will be wasting the time of the other students. In our case, the pupils are generally well behaved and ready to learn. So when a teacher explains a lesson to a class of 40, it is no different from explaining to a class of, say, 30 or even 20. Of course, the marking load will be different. If we do have additional te achers, the question is whether we should deploy them to do enrichment or to reduce the marking load of some teachers, for example, those with heavy marking loads, or should we reduce the class size. Basically, we are short of teachers in Singapore. For secondary schools, we even have to recruit teachers from Australia, New Zealand, UK and so forth. So our manpower resource is very short and we should be careful not to just go for small class sizes because intuitively people feel that small class sizes are useful for learning.”
“Sir, a study of this nature was done a few years ago. Again, the results were inconclusive. Mr Low Thia Khiang: In Singapore?”