Tay Eng Soon
Singapore
“Sir, up to now, the numbers involved are very small. Quite often, it is a small group, together with the lecturers, who work out the project. In other words, it is their initiative. Included in that is fund-raising, which they do.”
“The universities are also planning to introduce a modular and semester system for some of their courses. This will enable their students to do part of their course in overseas universities and gain credits for these modules towards the fulfilment of their degree requirements in NUS and NTU.”
“The polytechnic graduates who go overseas are quite a mixed group of people. Many of them do have working experience. In fact, they save the income from their working experience before they go overseas. So many do have working experience before they go overseas. PRE-SCHOOL CLASSES RUN BY PRIVATE ORGANISATIONS (Regulation) 8.”
“I think this is something which we can ask the universities to look into. Mr Umar Abdul Hamid: Does the Ministry have statistics to show that graduates who went overseas do have industrial experience before they get into the university?”
“Sir, the experience of the universities with polytechnic graduates is that they do well when they have practical working experience in addition to the diploma course that they have done.”
“They may not be highly educated themselves. Many of them are, in fact, not rich at all. They are refugees. But they pay attention to what their children do, they encourage them, they supervise them where they can, and as a result of that kind of encouragement, the children concentrate on their work and they do well in the American system.…”
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“Sir, up to now, the numbers involved are very small. Quite often, it is a small group, together with the lecturers, who work out the project. In other words, it is their initiative. Included in that is fund-raising, which they do. So in a way, it is a group of students who are interested enough to organise themselves and to raise funds who create these opportunities for themselves. COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY MONETARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE AGAINST FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 14. Mr Chng Hee Kok asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the number and nature of complaints received by the Monetary Authority of Singapore against financial institutions for the years 1990 to 1992.”
“The universities are also planning to introduce a modular and semester system for some of their courses. This will enable their students to do part of their course in overseas universities and gain credits for these modules towards the fulfilment of their degree requirements in NUS and NTU. The exposure of our undergraduate students to living and studying in a foreign country will be useful to them when they work abroad.”
“Sir, the preparation of students for overseas employment is best directed at the more mature students in the junior colleges, polytechnics and universities. They are closer to the employment stage and are more likely to be the ones to take up overseas employment later on. Whilst the emphasis in schools has to be on general education, students will be made more conscious of our external environment and the need to venture overseas through their studies and extra-curricular programmes, for example, student exchange programmes and visits to neighbouring countries. This year, the five-day residential seminar for the 500 pre-university students will focus on the theme: "Growing the Second Wing - our External Economy". With guidance from teachers and resource persons, the students will learn about the need and the opportunities for Singaporeans to venture abroad. They will study successful entrepreneurs locally and overseas. Several students will visit Hong Kong for their case study. Through these seminars, studies and field trips, students will be better prepared to venture abroad later on. Polytechnic students have been exposed to working environment overseas through the institutions' vacation training programmes and student exchange programmes. Under these programmes, the polytechnic students have been sent to countries around the region, such as Japan, China, Taiwan and Brunei as well as the United States and some European countries. The universities have introduced a 6-month industrial attachment programme and are encouraging students to undertake part of this requirement overseas. Both NUS and NTU are making arrangements with local and foreign companies and foreign institutions to take in their students for overseas assignments.”
“The polytechnic graduates who go overseas are quite a mixed group of people. Many of them do have working experience. In fact, they save the income from their working experience before they go overseas. So many do have working experience before they go overseas. PRE-SCHOOL CLASSES RUN BY PRIVATE ORGANISATIONS (Regulation) 8. Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Education, with the decision to close pre-school classes run by his Ministry, whether he will regulate the operation of private organisations running pre-school classes so that every Singaporean child in every constituency will have a place in these classes.”
“I think this is something which we can ask the universities to look into. Mr Umar Abdul Hamid: Does the Ministry have statistics to show that graduates who went overseas do have industrial experience before they get into the university? If there are statistics, how does that substantiate the fact that NUS or NTU need students to have industrial experience before they get into the engineering programmes?”
“As I said, based on the experience of the intakes, they found that when they have working experience behind them, they will have the maturity to get on with the course that they have enroled at the university.”
“Sir, the experience of the universities with polytechnic graduates is that they do well when they have practical working experience in addition to the diploma course that they have done. So the intention is that, in admissions, not only will they take into account the grades of these students at the polytechnics, they will also take into account their working experience.”
“Sir, in the last three years, 1990-92 admissions, the universities took in a total of 1,100 polytechnic graduates. The universities are planning to take in more over the next few years as the universities themselves expand to provide more places.”
“- [Dr Tay Eng Soon]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE BILL Order for Second Reading read. 3.10 pm”
“But as far as the national need for information technology professionals, whether at degree level or diploma level, is concerned, the need is very large. The National Computer Board has projected that by the end of this decade, Singapore will need something like 30,000 information technology professionals, generalists, specialists. Today, we have 14,000. We are not quite half way there yet. And they have therefore requested through the Committee for Professional and Technical Education, a Ministerial Committee, for an expansion in the number of places offered at the NUS and NTU for degree level courses for information technology and also at the polytechnic diploma level for similar courses. The NUS and NTU will be raising their intake from about 800 currently to about 900 in 2-3 years' time. At the level of the polytechnics, currently they are taking in 700, but they will be gradually raising the intake to about 1,100. So by that time, a total of about 2,000 IT professionals will be coming out into the workforce. But despite that, NCB thinks that there will still be some shortage and indeed many companies which cannot recruit enough people on the local market are recruiting from overseas. There is recruitment of overseas IT professionals into Singapore. But I should tell the Member that there is a world-wide shortage, so that even if you try to recruit from overseas, you may not be able to find the people you want. Sir, I want to assure him that these courses have been very carefully studied, surveys have been done and that there is no danger of redundancy in the creation of these courses. 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.”
“And having done that, then the polytechnics will set out to persuade the students that these courses are in demand by employers and to persuade them to come in to take these courses. That is the approach taken by the polytechnics which, I believe, is the right approach. And it has proven to be correct because all the courses offered by the polytechnics are well subscribed and taken up by school leavers. In the case of Health Sciences which is a new area for the polytechnics, the request to start diploma courses in Health Sciences, especially in the therapy courses which we do not have up to now, came from the health sector, particularly from the Ministry of Health. They have been watching this situation for many years and they have now convinced the Ministry of Education and the polytechnics that they should go into the field of Health Sciences. So this year we have made a start on this. I am glad to tell the Member that based on first-choice applications, there are more applications for, say, nursing places than there are places available to take them in. I believe this may be the first time that we have such a healthy response for Health Sciences courses. And it could be because the courses have been upgraded to diploma level. So we have got on to a good start for Health Sciences. In the case of Information Technology, he is right in pointing out that there are some private sector computer schools that are running computer courses, programming courses, system analysis courses. I think they have a role to play and they should continue to play this role, providing these courses especially for working people who want to acquire computer skills.”
“Secondly, he raised the question of part-time courses for working adults. Yes, indeed, the polytechnics are conducting evening and weekend courses for working adults leading to the diploma and leading to the advanced diploma that they offer. This is very well established in the case of Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Temasek Polytechnic is beginning to go into continuing education courses. In the case of Nanyang Polytechnic, it will concentrate, first of all, on its full-time courses to get itself established. And I would not advise them to start going into part-time courses for working adults, especially as the other polytechnics are already providing for this. But in due course, Nanyang Polytechnic, I am sure, would also want to help working adults upgrade themselves through their part-time evening courses. Sir, the Member for Ang Mo Kio GRC - and it is indeed in Ang Mo Kio where the Nanyang Polytechnic will be established - raised several interesting questions. I think he has made a general point which is: should the polytechnics start unusual courses like Health Sciences for which there may not be much student demand? And he is in fact saying: why not wait for student demand before you start courses? I disagree with him on that point. I think what is more important is to ask the question: does the economy need professionals and technologists in this or that area? Do employers need people? What kind of skills and experience and knowledge do they need? Starting with that, then there is a justification to spend a lot of public funds on the establishment of very expensive courses at the polytechnics.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Mr Lew Syn Pau and Mr Umar Hamid for their support of this Bill. I would first take up the points made by Mr Lew Syn Pau. He asked whether, in the process of setting up Temasek Polytechnic and now Nanyang Polytechnic in such a short time, we are depleting staff members from the other polytechnics, and whether there will be an unhealthy competition for manpower between them. Let me assure him, Sir, that there is no problem in this area at all. In fact, the two older established polytechnics are well stabilised and they are providing some of their staff members to help start the courses in the new polytechnics, to be heads of departments and senior members on the staff. The new polytechnics are recruiting beyond that from the private sector. They look for people who have working experience, as well as the requisite academic qualifications, to become academic staff. And they are doing so not only locally within the Singapore context, but they are also recruiting from Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States. This is in fact a good time for the polytechnics to recruit, because in the countries I have just mentioned, there is a budget squeeze in these countries. And the education budget in these countries is also being squeezed. So we are able to benefit by recruiting some of their academic staff to come here to work for us. So the staffing position, although tight, is possible, because there are these sources from which we can recruit staff members. I personally coordinate this matter because I meet the principals of the polytechnics on a monthly basis. And amongst other issues, the question of staffing comes up and I ensure that there is a great deal of cooperation amongst the polytechnics in this matter.”
“The second campus, the site of the former Tiong Bahru Secondary School and Delta Circus Primary School, will be used for courses in Business Management. This year, Nanyang Polytechnic will take in 380 students for its Nursing, Radiography and Therapy courses and another 320 students for Business Management courses. Next year, Nanyang Polytechnic will start courses in Engineering and Information Technology. For this purpose, ITE will loan the premises of the newly built Yishun Technical Institute to the Polytechnic. The initial intake for Engineering and Information Technology will be 360 and 160 students respectively. Long-term Plan Sir, the long-term plan is to develop a new campus for Nanyang Polytechnic on a 30-hectare site in Ang Mo Kio New Town, catering to an intake of about 3,800 students in four to five years' time. This site is ideal because it is centrally located and it is near to high technology industries. The site is also conveniently located next to the Yio Chu Kang MRT station and will, therefore, allow the Polytechnic to serve students, including adult workers attending evening classes, living along the MRT corridor. Purpose of Bill The Nanyang Polytechnic Bill proposes to establish the Polytechnic as a body corporate, comprising the Board of Governors, the Senate, the members of the academic staff and other officers. The Bill also makes provisions for the establishment of Schools within the Polytechnic. The Constitution of Nanyang Polytechnic is set out in the Schedule to the Bill. The Constitution defines the composition, powers and duties of the Board and Senate, as well as other details which will be governed by statutes. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“Nanyang Polytechnic's diploma course in Information Technology will provide a strong grounding in programming and systems analysis related specially to manufacturing software, computer-integrated manufacturing, and computer networking. Health Sciences - a new field The Health Sciences programme at the Nanyang Polytechnic will be a new development. Presently, the training of health care personnel, such as nurses, is hospital-based with an emphasis on clinical work. With the rapid advances in medical technology, we need to inject more rigour into the training of health care professionals through institution-based training. This is consistent with worldwide trends. The training will still be practice-oriented, but more theory will be included in the curriculum. This will help upgrade our health care professionals so that they can better meet the needs of a more affluent society with a maturing population. Our diploma courses in Health Sciences are new to Singapore. Nanyang Polytechnic will be collaborating with the University of Sydney to tap their expertise in this area. Sydney University's Faculty of Health Science is well recognised in Australia. Under the collaboration, it will help our new School of Health Sciences introduce two new diploma courses - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, in addition to nursing and radiography. Plans for 1992-1993 In 1992, Nanyang Polytechnic will start at two temporary campuses and offer diploma courses in the Health Sciences and Business Management. Courses in Health Sciences will be conducted at the Outram campus, formerly the Silat Primary School, as well as the present School of Nursing.”
“For the majority of our students, education will not end at the secondary level. Most of them will expect to continue their education and training in various post-secondary institutions such as junior colleges, the polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education. It is envisaged that, by the second half of this decade, about 40% of a cohort, or about 16,000 students, could benefit from the courses offered by the polytechnics. This translates into four polytechnics, each catering to an intake of about 4,000 students. To meet this demand for places, the Government has decided to establish a fourth polytechnic instead of expanding the existing three into very large institutions. Our experience tells us that a polytechnic should not be too large. Otherwise its quality of education will be affected. Courses to be offered Nanyang Polytechnic will offer courses which are relevant to the needs of industry, taking into account courses currently offered by the other polytechnics, trends in our economy and our manpower needs. Initially, the Polytechnic will offer courses in Engineering, Business Management, Information Technology and Health Sciences. Engineering In engineering, the Polytechnic will focus on key areas, such as automation, manufacturing technology and precision engineering. Business Management As Singapore positions itself as a global city with total business capabilities, we need middle-level professionals well-trained in fields, such as financial trading and insurance and risk management. Courses at Nanyang Polytechnic will take cognizance of the regional economy and adopt a regional and international outlook. Information Technology Demand for information technology professionals is still increasing.”
“While many degree holders occupy the higher echelons of industry and provide professional and managerial expertise, they must be supported by middle-level professionals and managers who can implement plans and concepts efficiently and effectively. Feedback from employers suggest that there is indeed a demand for middle-level professionals with polytechnic qualifications. This is further confirmed by the higher median starting salaries of polytechnic graduates which today have crossed the $1,000 mark. To meet the needs of the economy, we must therefore expand the polytechnics rapidly. Meeting pupils' aspirations However, the expansion of polytechnics must not be at the expense of standards. We must also consider whether there is a sufficiently large pool of students who can benefit from polytechnic education. In the last few years, we have witnessed the increasing popularity of the polytechnics among '0' level school leavers. In 1991, for example, there were 16,100 first-choice applicants for the 8,800 polytechnic places available, or about two applicants for every vacancy. An analysis of these applicants showed that most of them meet the entry requirements of the polytechnics. This year's Joint Admission Exercise results for polytechnic admission are not out yet. However, I can report that the number of first-choice '0' level applicants for the polytechnics is 17,300. This is a record number. They are applying for about 10,000 places offered by the four polytechnics for '0' level school leavers. We must therefore provide more places at the polytechnics to meet the aspirations of students and parents. With the improvements in the education system, more students will have at least 10 years of general education, including four years of secondary education.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The purpose of this Bill is to provide for the establishment of a fourth polytechnic in Singapore. It will be known as the Nanyang Polytechnic. Our first polytechnic, the Singapore Polytechnic, was established 38 years ago - in 1954 - to train middle-level professionals to support the economic and technological development of Singapore. Since then, we have established two more polytechnics, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and its predecessor, Ngee Ann Technical College, in 1967 and Temasek Polytechnic in 1990. These three polytechnics have spearheaded the training of skilled manpower to meet the needs of the economy. Today, polytechnic graduates are valued as practice-oriented and knowledgeable middle-level professionals and are much sought after by industry. Since the beginning, our polytechnics have produced a total of 83,000 graduates for our economy. Based on the projected enrolments of the four polytechnics, we should produce another 105,000 polytechnic graduates by the year 2000. At present, polytechnic graduates form only 5% of our workforce. By the year 2000, they should form 12% of the workforce. Meeting manpower needs Sir, as our economy becomes more sophisticated, we will need a manpower structure that is similar to that of the developed countries. Take Japan as an example. In 1990, 16% of Japan's workforce were university graduates and 58% have post-secondary education. In contrast, our 1990 workforce comprised 6% degree holders and 13% post-secondary graduates which include polytechnic graduates, A-level holders and other post 0-level graduates. Clearly there is a large gap at the post-secondary level including at polytechnic level. This is a crucial sector of our workforce.”
“I think the Member should take the whole thing in context, and not just pick on one point. On the other hand, it is true that there are parents who, unfortunately, are very nervous about their children's education. They are negative in the way they deal with their children. I think this discourages the children. It shakes up their self-confidence and, in fact, the children do worse. So my advice to parents is to take a positive attitude, to be very encouraging and not to use the opposite, which is to scold them, to criticize them and to compare them with other children and say, "Why is it you can't do better than them?". I think this discourages the child. The reason may be to help them to do better, but the result is the opposite. On the subject of turnover of teachers in our schools, in fact, the turnover rate in our schools is not high. We have a turnover rate of staff of about 2%-3% a year. If you compare that with the turnover in many other economic sectors, I think the turnover rate of teachers is quite low. 4.15 pm Dr Tan Cheng Bock has asked a question about graduates who do not have two teaching subjects. I think I will have to refer this to the Public Service Commission or the Education Service Commission because they are responsible for the recruitment of teachers and they also lay down the rules on what is the minimum requirement. But the reason why two teaching subjects have been put in for graduates is that most teachers can be expected to teach two subjects, not just one. So it is quite necessary for them to have two teaching subjects.”
“They may not be highly educated themselves. Many of them are, in fact, not rich at all. They are refugees. But they pay attention to what their children do, they encourage them, they supervise them where they can, and as a result of that kind of encouragement, the children concentrate on their work and they do well in the American system. What is true of the Vietnamese children is also true of children in Singapore and anywhere else in the world. If there is parental interest, if there is warmth and encouraging support from parents, even if the parents are not rich, even if the parents do not have a high education, but they are interested in what their children are doing, the children will do better in school. That has been proven again and again from many studies.”
“It is not as simple as that, my friend. I was going to come to this next point. What are the key factors for success in schools? Since Mr Chiam and Mr Low are very concerned about this, what are the key factors for success in schools? I think, first, the basic ability of the child is very important. A child is endowed with certain abilities. That is very basic and important. Secondly, the motivation of the child is important also. The child may be very bright in terms of his endowment. If he is unmotivated, he will not do well, he will not pay attention to his studies. So motivation is important. What are the avenues of motivating the child? The school is definitely an important avenue, and that is why I said the principal and his team of teachers are really the core, the heart of the school. By doing a good job in running the school, they are motivating the children under their charge to concentrate on their lessons, to do well in their ECA, to do all kinds of things they want them to do. But beyond the school, motivation by parents is perhaps even more important. Let me explain why I say this. I have just come across a study. This is a study of children of Vietnamese refugees who are studying in American schools in California. To the amazement of everybody, these children who speak hardly any English when they started school are doing very well in their neighbourhood schools, compared with American children who are not doing well at all in these schools. Studies have been done on this. Why, in the same school, different children, one does well, one does not do very well? There must be some other reasons. The reason is outside the school. They found in the studies that the Vietnamese parents of these children pay a great deal of attention to what their children do.”
“We have a class size of about 36 and it varies from year to year depending on the number of classes that are created. It has served us well. I do not think there has been any worry that because of the class size of 36 our school results are suffering. In fact, each year, to the amazement of many people, the results seem to be improving. This year's 'O' and 'A' level results have been the best ever. I think what is more important ---”
“Sir, I will first turn to the points made by Mr Chiam. I have already spoken quite extensively about the recruitment of teachers to try to meet the shortage situation, so I will not repeat myself. His point about class size is something that he brings up predictably almost every year. Mr Chiam has the opinion that to have good education, you must keep your class size small, the smaller the better. I do not know where he has obtained this information from. I suspect he has obtained it from his Western contacts, because it is true in the UK and the United States. One of the key points that has been made by many people is that they must keep class sizes small, the smaller the better, 20-25 per class. But does Mr Chiam know that in these two countries, the UK and US, there is a great deal of unhappiness about education. In fact, there are a lot of criticisms about the dropping standards of education in these two countries. And this is a subject which will affect the elections in Britain in April and possibly the American presidential elections in November. So I do not think he should just simply quote or ape something which is being widely touted in another place and say that this is the solution for Singapore. I think this class size issue is over-rated. If you look at Japan, Korea, Taiwan, their class sizes are bigger than ours. On a regular basis, it is between 45 and 50 per class. I remember visiting a very good school in Seoul, Korea, and their class sizes were 60 per class. They manage to do quite well. Their students, in fact, excel and are held up by the American educationists as examples of students who are doing so well and of a system that is far better than theirs. I think we should see these things in balance.”
“What is more important is that each of these schools sets out to make its programme as effective as possible. I spoke on this just a moment ago, that a school can take its task, its programme, and achieve a great deal from that, and much depends on the principal and the team of teachers in the school. I think we should leave the schools to do their best, support them positively, encourage them, but we should not sit on top of them, applying pressure on them to be ranked number one, number two or number three, as the case may be.”
“On the question of stress that is being put upon teachers in schools that was raised by Mr Chin Harn Tong, I agree that there is a degree of stress that teachers experience in schools. Some of this stress comes from parents who have very high expectations of their children's performance. The Ministry of Education does not go out of its way to apply stress on teachers in schools. There is no reason to do that. But let me just cite you a very recent occurrence - the junior colleges. They were asked to give their results so that the press could rank them according to who was number one, number two, number three, and so on, based on their 'A' level results. I am glad that the junior college principals decided not to release the results while the results fever was on. Public ranking of junior colleges or, for that matter, public ranking of secondary schools or primary schools by their PSLE results or, worse, kindergartens, I think, is undesirable. What will it do? In the case of junior colleges, the collective results of one junior college compared to another may differ by as little as 0.5%. If you were to rank junior colleges according to this, and to say that somebody is ahead of another because there is a 0.5% difference in their overall results, this is absurd, this is nonsense. 4.00 pm But when you publicly rank institutions like this, what is the effect? The effect is that it will raise the tension and the stress that parents feel. It will feed on the kiasu spirit that is in many people, that their children are in a junior college or in a school that is slightly lower than the next one. I do not think this improves education at all. It does not improve the education of our children to have all these institutions ranked publicly every year for everybody to marvel at.”
“The effort will continue but, for this year, when the fresh graduates come out from the NIE in March, the primary schools will have a full complement of teachers. The Ministry officials have indicated to me that every vacancy will be filled, and there should not be any problem. But there will still be casual vacancies due to illness, maternity leave, and so on. These will have to be filled with relief teachers or supply teachers. The position in secondary schools is not as good as in primary schools. There are still unfilled vacancies. So they will have to rely on relief teachers. But with the recruitment that has been coming in very positively, I believe that we should also be able to remove the vacancy situation in secondary schools. Sir, the campaigns that we have launched have influenced public perception of the teaching service. One question was posed to a large number of people by an opinion survey organisation. The question was to rank different kinds of professionals on the contribution they make to society. Six professions were listed for them to choose. I am glad to say that teaching was ranked first, even before doctors. In other words, the public perception is that teachers render a significant contribution to society through their teaching of young people. Doctors rank second. At the bottom of the six are bankers, financial and marketing people. So I think the perception of teachers is not bad. Our task must be to continue to attract, encourage young people who have a sense of social responsibility, who want to do something for other people and who are also interested, have a liking for young people, for children, to come into teaching.”
“But he is checking to make sure that schools are adequately provided with administrative and clerical staff. And if they are not so, he should make his recommendations. I believe that this study will be finished by the end of the year and we would then follow through with the study. The final point made was that of airconditioning of staff rooms and staff offices in schools. In this respect, I am completely in sympathy with Mr Lew Syn Pau. Teachers have to spend long hours in schools, not only in teaching, but in preparation, in the marking of exercise books, in the marking of test papers, and so on. They should work in better working conditions, physical conditions. With the support of Members of this House, we will approach the Ministry of Finance. The budget has to come from them, but this is one area which I feel is worth pressing for. I turn now, Sir, to the points made by Mr Chin Harn Tong. He has pointed out that there is a shortage of teachers in our schools and he has tried to give reasons why there is this shortage. First of all, Sir, let me say that the shortage situation in our schools is improving significantly. In other words, many schools now are having a full complement of teachers. The reason is that in the last five years, due to publicity campaigns, due to the stepping up of recruitment efforts, the Ministry of Education has been successful in recruiting more and more teachers each year. Let me give this House some figures. In 1988, we recruited 527 teachers; in 1989, 717; 1990, 843; last year, 1,130. In other words, between 1988 and 1991, we doubled the number of teachers that were being recruited into the teaching service. This is very encouraging.”
“Then everything is remitted through GIRO to the school or to the Ministry of Education, and there will be minimum handling of sums of money by the teachers, counting and making sure that the right amount is there. And this is something which we would like to work towards. Already quite a lot of parents are paying school fees through GIRO, but the point is to persuade more and more of them to do so. Secondly, teachers have indicated that they have to type examination papers; they have to type test papers for use in their classes, and they would prefer that this typing duty, or word processing task, be given to clerical assistants or clerical staff who can do the typing. I can totally understand the unpleasantness of having to do a lot of typing. If there are enough clerical staff, I think this can be moved to them. But there is also a security problem with examination and test papers. If this is assigned to a clerical staff, the school will have to take appropriate security measures, to make sure that there are no leaks from these examinations and tests. But, nonetheless, this is one of the chores that could be devolved to somebody else. Lastly, teachers have indicated that they have to do quite a lot of photocopying, and even stapling of the same examination papers and test papers. Again, these could be assigned to clerical staff. But the security measures must be put in place to make sure there are no leaks of the examinations. So the Ministry is aware of these problems. The current position is that the Auditor General is now checking into the adequacy of administrative and clerical staff at our schools. This is part of the zero growth policy that the Government has.”
“Sir, I would first take the points made by Mr Lew Syn Pau and Mr Sinnakaruppan, both of whom spoke on the load that teachers have to carry which is outside the normal teaching load, and the need for non-teaching staff, clerical staff and others who should help in the schools. I agree with them that the main task of teachers is to teach. But that does not mean that they should not do some administration. In fact, they do some administration, especially administration connected with class management. I think that is also part and parcel of the role of a teacher. They also take on ECA responsibilities, taking children in ECA programmes. Again that is part and parcel of teaching. Because that gives the teacher very close contact with students and through that approach, in fact, builds up rapport between the teachers and the students, and the students pick up attitudes and values during their ECA. In fact, a study has been done by the Management Services Department that was mentioned earlier. This study has recommendations which are now being examined. One of the interesting findings of this study is that the teachers have indicated that there are three administrative chores that they most dislike and they would like these to be taken over by administrative or clerical staff in the school. These three chores are, first, collection of school fees. As you know, every month, teachers are involved in collecting school fees from their school children. If there are any late payments by the students, as this does happen, the teachers have to then bring the accounts up to date on the next day, or the day after, so there are delays. This is an administrative chore which teachers feel could be done by somebody else. The ideal would be for school fees to be paid through GIRO.”
“I will come to his point later when there is another cut and I will touch on this subject. The point made by Mr Lew Syn Pau concerns sports in the schools and the necessity for young students to develop themselves, especially for those who are going on to do national service later. Earlier this year, I announced that the schools are starting a new scheme called the Trim and Fit Scheme, or the TAF scheme. The purpose is to help school children to be more physically fit and also to reduce obesity, a problem which is beginning to affect more and more children in our schools. But that aside, Sir, there is a process going on to implement physical education in all our schools by providing them with trained PE teachers. This is taking time because we need to have the PE graduates from the Institute of Education. With a good PE programme in school, children will benefit in two ways. Firstly, physical fitness will improve because they will have regular physical exercises. Secondly, they will also acquire sports and games skills -- these are life-long skills --- in swimming, basketball, football, etc. This is something which we hope they will carry into adult life. So I can assure him that everything that can be done is being done to enable young people in school to acquire sporting skills.”
“What we are saying is that parental support must come in. They must come in and lend their hand to the school in the ECA programme of the school, in the annual activities of the school, and even in the library activities of the school. I know it is going to take up time. But if you want to have a school that is effective and good for the children, community support is very important. So I would welcome the point made by Dr Arthur Beng that grassroots members, community leaders and parents should come forward to help schools.”
“If you take all this together, then I think you can say that that school is giving good, or even above average, education for the children that are under its charge. Many of our neighbourhood schools are meeting these criteria. They are able to take average children and they are able, in the course of four or six years, to help them acquire a good education with high success in their examinations. What are the key factors that go to make a school a good school or an effective school? I prefer to use the word "effective" rather than "good". Firstly, all the studies have shown that it is the Chief Executive Officer of the school that is crucial -- the principal of the school. A school that has a good CEO with good leadership, professional and managerial ability will have a team of teachers that are motivated and are willing to mobilise the children to do well. Secondly, a team of well-trained and motivated teachers. The National Institute of Education (NIE) is doing its best to train teachers. It has been receiving good quality applicants -- applicants with good qualifications and good motivation. I think that is the best assurance that education will continue to improve in Singapore with teachers of that calibre. Thirdly, any effective school should receive support from its community, from the parents, from the community leaders that live around the school. In Singapore, unfortunately, I think the level of community support is not good compared with, say, the community support that schools get in the United Kingdom or even in the United States. Many parents in Singapore will leave the responsibility of education of their children to the school and get on with their business, and expect the school at the end of the day to do something remarkable for their children.”
“That is really the heart of the matter - the school is as good as the principal and the teachers that it has, and all our neighbourhood schools are getting their fair share of the graduates from the NIE. Sir, his speech raises a more basic question: what is a good school? I think many people today judge a school quite simply by the results that the school achieves, either at PSLE or at 'O' levels. And if they do well at PSLE or 'O' levels, that is considered a good school. Sir, I think it is much more than that. If it is simply a matter of good examination results at the end of the four years or six years in school, then it is very easy to develop a good school. All you have to do is to take a group of very bright students, put them in a school, in any school, and in a few years' time the results of the school will shoot up to be very good and automatically you have a good school. 3.30 pm Sir, it is obviously not the way to do it. In other words, a good school is much more than just the good results they get. If a school merely receives very bright students and produces good results at the end of the day, it may or may not be a good school. What is in fact more important is for a school to be able to take in average students, students who are average in their performance, and at the end of a period of time to improve their performance to help them to do better than they would otherwise. That I would say is value-added, and that is the approach that the Ministry is taking in evaluating our schools, how much value-added are you giving to the children who come to a school. We should also look at the non-academic side - the tone of the school, how well run the school is and how effectively it is being managed.”
“Sir, I would like first to reply to Mr Peh Chin Hua's point about retired teachers. He has given good reasons why we should try to encourage retired school teachers to come back into the teaching service as supply teachers or as relief teachers. I fully agree with him on that. In fact, we are not trying to keep away any retired teachers. The problem is to encourage enough of them to want to come back to teach. We do get a few. For example, in one of the day schools, St. Michael's Primary School, they are making use of retired teachers for tutoring and looking after the children after the school day is over. But in order to attract retired teachers to come back as relief teachers and as supply teachers, I think we have to look into the rates of payment for such people, and this is a subject that is being investigated at the moment. Dr Arthur Beng has raised the question of the neighbourhood schools, the image that they have and what can be done to improve the image and to improve the neighbourhood schools. Let me say to him first that we are committed to the neighbourhood schools. We will always support them because that is where the majority of young Singaporeans are going to school for education. So he can be assured that the Ministry will never neglect the neighbourhood schools. In fact, most of our neighbourhood schools, especially the ones located in new towns, have some of the best facilities today. They are new schools, they have been built to the latest specifications and their building facilities are better than some of the older established schools you can find in the older parts of Singapore. Not only that, they are getting a fair share of good teachers and principals from the NIE.”
“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. - [Dr Tay Eng Soon]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Mr Chiam for supporting the Bill. I notice, as I was making the speech, that he was furiously writing down many things that I have mentioned and he has brought them up for discussion. I welcome that. It is not a change of label when VITB becomes ITE, because there is restructuring that will take place to make the new Institute different from the old VITB. I have already mentioned in my speech that the focus of the ITE will be for those who have finished 10 years of schooling. That means upgrading courses, expanding courses, higher level courses for people who have completed the very extensive schooling before going on for training. That is quite different from taking primary school leavers and giving them training. I do not want to comment on some of his other points because actually they are straight from my speech and I think there is no need for further comment. However, he made one point regarding the continuation of NTC-3 courses. I made it very clear in my speech that NTC-3 courses have a problem, especially for those who have just finished primary education and gone on to that kind of course. First, many do not complete it. Secondly, for those who successfully complete NTC-3 courses, they are not getting salaries more than unskilled workers, indicating to us that employers do not place high value on NTC-3 courses for primary school leavers. So the position that ITE will take will be to encourage employers who need NTC-3 graduates to get involved in apprenticeship programmes and to be involved in running NTC-3 courses. Whatever we train in VITB or ITE must be in response to employers' needs and not for any other reason, because it must meet the job market and then the trainees will be profitably employed after their training.”
“In July 1991, the polytechnics enrolled some 140 and 740 VITB graduates into their full-time and part-time courses respectively. Compared with the previous year, the increases were four times for full-time courses and double for the part-time courses. Subject to the experience with these VITB graduates in diploma courses, the polytechnics are prepared to take in more VITB graduates in future. In the fourth plan, ITE will spend some $250 million to build seven new training institutes and redevelop three existing ones over the next six to seven years. The aim is to provide an enriching, total learning environment for its trainees besides improving the quality of training courses. With the upgrading of the vocational training system in Singapore, the VITB must take on a new role. This means a change in its corporate name and a restatement of its mission and objectives. The new Institute of Technical Education, Singapore, will be a post-secondary education and training institution, providing technical training for school leavers who have completed 10 years of general education. Sir, I now turn to the Institute of Technical Education Bill. It proposes to establish the Institute of Technical Education as a body corporate comprising a Board of Governors, the Chief Executive Officer and other officers. The Bill defines the main functions of the ITE and the powers and duties of the Board of Governors. The Bill has made provisions for all VITB staff to be transferred to the ITE upon its formation. It also provides for the transfer of all existing training institutes under VITB to the new ITE. The Institute of Technical Education will be a statutory board replacing the existing Vocational and Industrial Training Board. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“In the 2-3 years that an apprentice spends with his company, a strong bond of loyalty can be established between the apprentice and his trainers and supervisors and ultimately with his firm. This can happen especially if the firm treats the apprentice with care. Sir, this is precisely the reason why firms in Japan, Germany and Switzerland strongly advocate the apprenticeship method of training. In Germany and Switzerland, nearly 70% of their school cohort go into apprenticeship training before going on to work or to higher education. In Japan, all new employees, even degree graduates, have to go through a 3-year in-company training course starting from the shop floor. The purpose of all this is not just to develop in them company skills and knowledge, but also good work attitudes and loyalty. No wonder, the workers from these three countries are among the best in the world. Sir, VITB or ITE as a training institution can certainly train skills and give knowledge, but it cannot develop loyalty on behalf of the companies. Properly run apprenticeship training can, and can thus lead to a reduction in job hopping, as is the case in Japan, Germany and Switzerland despite their tight labour market. We would do well to follow the example of these three countries. VITB has had extensive dialogue with Singapore Manufacturers Association (SMA) and many firms. I am glad to say that the consensus and support for apprenticeship training in Singapore is growing. At the moment, nearly 320 firms are committed and are involved in providing apprenticeship training in collaboration with VITB. VITB's third plan is to create new opportunities for its graduates to progress to higher levels of training, both within its own training system and to the polytechnics.”
“However, in future, NTC-3 courses will be provided through the apprenticeship route by employers who need such skills. The second plan is to expand the scope of apprenticeship training in Singapore. Formal apprenticeship in Singapore started as far back as 1968. But in the rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s, industries were not ready to train workers for their own needs. Today, our industries are ready to play a more active role in the training of the skilled workers they need. They recognise the importance of having skilled workers who can operate their increasingly sophisticated and specialised facilities. A new national framework for apprenticeship schemes was thus introduced in 1990. VITB's plan to upgrade and expand the scope of apprenticeship in Singapore will help companies to train skilled workers in many new areas which are not available through the full-time institutional system, thus widening skill options for school leavers. These new areas include aerospace skills, retail sales, health care, travel and tourism, and computer operations. With the Skills Development Fund support, the apprenticeship scheme will enable firms to recruit workers and to turn them into skilled workers. For the trainees, they can earn and learn at the same time. Small and medium sized enterprises are beginning to take advantage of the scheme. Firms wanting to take part in the apprenticeship scheme must satisfy VITB that they have qualified industrial trainers and a proper apprenticeship programme. Sir, apprenticeship training, which we are emphasising and promoting, is not just another method of skills training. Skills and knowledge can certainly be provided through full-time institutional training. But apprenticeship training has the potential to do more. Let me explain.”
“The net number of primary school leavers successfully obtaining the full NTC-3 certificate is a mere 40%. Unfortunately, this is not the end of the problem. VITB's Graduate Employment Surveys show that 75% of NTC-3 graduates with only primary education are not getting jobs for which they are trained. They are going into some other area of employment. That is a waste. The reason is that the salaries offered to them are not attractive and are often similar to those who are unskilled. Employers seem to place a low value on NTC-3 graduates with a primary education. Thus, it has become clear that trainees with only primary school education have not been successful as vocational trainees. It appears that employers prefer vocational graduates to have at least a secondary education. The VITB reviewed its current training system, and, in March 1991, announced four major plans to upgrade vocational training. The first plan is to upgrade VITB to a post-secondary institution providing training for secondary school leavers who, in future, will have at least 10 years of schooling. The Basic Vocational Training Programmes for primary school leavers will be phased out by 1995 when there will be very few primary school leavers under the improved primary school system. Courses for secondary school leavers will be further expanded. For example, more NTC-2 places will be made available. Secondary school leavers are expected to make it to NTC-2. But for those who are unable to do so, they will be awarded NTC-3 certificates commensurate with their training. I do not foresee the phasing out altogether of NTC-3 courses as some employers will continue to recruit such graduates.”
“The course will better orientate and prepare the less academically inclined pupils for vocational training. In parallel with the MOE Review, the VITB also set up a Review Committee to examine the proposed changes, and to formulate plans to upgrade vocational training. The current training system has been developed to meet the training needs of both primary and secondary school leavers under the New Education System (NES) introduced in 1980. It consists of different levels of training: (i) National Trade Certificate Grade 3 (NTC-3) level courses, mainly for primary school leavers, and (ii) National Trade Certificate Grade 2 (NTC-2) level courses, Industrial Technician Certificate (ITC), Certificate in Office Skills (COS) and Certificate in Business Studies (CBS) for secondary school leavers. This system that we have evolved has been successful in attracting more school leavers to join vocational training. The enrolment of full-time VITB trainees has grown steadily from 10,000 in 1980 to 16,000 in 1990, an increase of 60%. The VITB now admits about 10,000 school leavers annually, equivalent to one quarter of our average school cohort. Sir, VITB's experience shows that secondary school leavers in its technical, commercial and skills courses are able to complete their courses successfully. VITB's Graduate Employment Surveys show that most of them are working in jobs for which they are trained. They are well received by industry, have good starting salaries and good career prospects. However, the performance of primary school leavers is not as good. Many of them do not complete their training. They leave for the job market half way through their course or fail to pass the NTC-3 certificate when they reach the end.”
“But this position is steadily improving, first from the output of new skilled workers from our training institutes, and secondly, from the upgrading of workers through the wide range of worker education and training programmes such as BEST, WISE, MOST, TIME and Fast Forward. The present and the projected intake for the new ITE, for full-time and apprenticeship training courses, is 10,000 per year. In addition, the number of skilled workers trained and certified through our continuing education and training programmes is 5,000 each year. Based on these outputs and allowing for attrition and retirements, our total pool of skilled workers by the year 2000 will reach 280,000, constituting 18% of the 1.5 million workforce at that time. In absolute terms, this would represent an increase of 130,000 or 87% more than the pool of 150,000 skilled workers trained and certified by VITB today. Sir, I believe that we will steadily improve our labour force and maintain our No. 1 position in the BERI report. More importantly, we will improve our comparative advantage which is the quality of our workforce and thus maintain our competitiveness in the international market. Recent changes to improve our education system, and the proposal to upgrade VITB to the Institute of Technical Education, will help us achieve this goal. Sir, in July 1990, the Minister for Education set up an MOE Committee to review Primary School Education. The MOE Review Committee proposed two changes which have direct implications for VITB. First, all students will receive at least 10 years of general education, including secondary education, before they proceed for further education and training. Secondly, a new Normal (Technical) course will be introduced in secondary schools.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Bill provides for the establishment of the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore, or ITE in short, which will take over the functions of the Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB). Sir, vocational and technical training started in Singapore in the 1960s, first under the Technical Education Department of the Ministry of Education (MOE), and then under the Industrial Training Board (ITB) in the 70s and from 1979 till now under the VITB. The total number of skilled workers that have been trained and certified is 150,000. Most of these persons are still in our workforce. Today, they constitute some 12% of the total workforce of 1.3 million. In the last 10 years alone, VITB trained and certified 120,000 skilled workers for our economy. Sir, one of the key factors enabling our economy to compete against others in the international arena is the quality and number of trained skilled workers we have. BERI, the Business Environment Risk Intelligence company, has rated our workforce as being No. 1 continuously for the past 12 years. Their rating takes into account our relative productivity, our legal and industrial relations framework and the availability of trained manpower compared with other countries. Although we have been ranked first overall, BERI has also pointed out that we rank only 14th in respect of the availability of trained manpower, including skilled workers. This weakness is due to the sizeable pool of low educated, low skilled workers in our workforce from the past.”
“Sir, I just want to join in the debate. When I heard the Member who opposed me at Eunos GRC in the 1988 elections say that when he arrived the ballot boxes were already opened and the papers were already poured out for counting, I remember very distinctly that the Member was there throughout, right from the very beginning. Not only was he there, but the members of his team were there. Francis Seow and Mr Babu were there, and his election agents were there. They were hovering around the boxes and looking at everything and scrutinising. When the boxes were poured out they were right there watching. The whole thing was completely above board. He was very relaxed. He expected to win. When he saw the votes coming out in his favour he was very happy. But, in fact, in the end he lost. So I do not know what the Member is alleging. Complete fiction.”
“Sir, I wish it was a simple matter of a logo to persuade people to vote. If it was as simple as that, then the Workers Party can use the logo to persuade the people to vote for them as well. SALE OF UNITED INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION LTD SHARES (Allegations of insider trading) The following Question stood in the name of Assoc. Prof. Maurice Choo - 5. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will elaborate on the recent allegations of insider trading against individuals involved in the sale of United Industrial Corporation Ltd shares.”
“I would leave it to the Member to interpret. He can put any interpretation he likes, but it is distinctly different from the Party's logo.”
“Sir, the Member may not have scrutinised the logo very carefully. In fact, there is a difference in the PAP Community Foundation's logo, which has the initials "CF", and that is quite different from the Party's logo. This logo has been registered with the Registrar of Societies and the Commissioner of Charities.”
“Yes, Sir, the money spent will be for the upgrading of certain kindergarten centres, provision of new facilities and new teaching areas. These centres will be used for the provision of kindergarten and nursery classes.”
“No, Sir, I think they are quite eligible to set up a foundation and do exactly what the PAP Community Foundation has done.”
“Sir, the answer to that is yes. But the political party concerned should first set up a foundation and, secondly, if they want to run a kindergarten they should show that they can run a viable and good quality kindergarten. Thirdly, if they are running preparatory year programmes which meet the standards approved by the Ministry of Education, they may also apply for the same grant. Dr Lee Siew-Choh: With all those "buts" and conditions, would that not exclude all other political parties?”