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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“The survey revealed three interesting opinions. The first is that many people do not regard teaching as a choice profession. They regard it either as a second choice profession or in some cases as a last choice career. The second finding was that many parents, when asked if they would encourage their children to become teachers, say that they would not. They even go further to say that they would dissuade their children from becoming teachers. And when they were asked what they thought of the teaching profession, they said, "Yes, teaching is a noble profession. More people should consider going to teaching." They recognize the importance of teaching but they said that other people's children can go into teaching, but not their children! These are the findings of a survey and they are findings that are not promising from the point of view of trying to recruit more people into the teaching profession. We have to somehow overcome these prejudices, these opinions, so that more people will be prepared to come and become teachers. There are many ways in which this can be done and the Ministry of Education is looking into all possibilities. More publicity of the teaching profession, explaining this to junior college students before they leave junior college to go to university, carrying out briefing sessions and education sessions with university students in their first year when they are choosing the subjects that they should study, so that they will not pre-empt the possibility of their becoming teachers by choosing the wrong subject combinations and also answering their questions on the scope of the teaching profession. All these measures are being taken and will continue to be taken to reach the group of people who are potential teachers.”
“Sir, the last few speakers, speaking under this head, have one point in common which has to do with teachers - the shortage of teachers and the training of teachers. I concur with them that everything should be done to reduce this problem of shortage of teachers because without an adequate number of teachers in schools, in classrooms, the business of education cannot proceed smoothly. Sir, we all know that teachers and principals are the key people in schools. We have reached a stage when we want them not only to teach academic subjects well, we also expect them to inculcate good habits and values in our children. We are putting upon them a great responsibility and in their profession, teachers, in fact, affect the development and education of a whole generation of young people, the next generation of Singaporeans. We must therefore continue to attract enthusiastic and capable people to become teachers. The problem is how to do this. One or two Members raised the question of relief teachers. Relief teachers are an indication of the shortage of teachers in our schools. We have about 1,000 relief teachers still within the school system. We would like to reduce that number as much as possible. But how do we get more people to become teachers? The need each year is for the Institute of Education (IE) to recruit some 700 people for both primary and secondary school teaching. The IE is barely able to recruit this number of people but by the mid-1990s the annual recruitment will have to increase to about 1,100 persons per year for the teaching profession. This is needed to cater for retirements. Sir, the Ministry recently undertook a survey with the help of a professional firm to survey the attitudes of people, particularly parents towards the teaching profession.”
“This can affect our own religious groups which have connections and affinity with outside groups. It is in Singapore's interest as well as their own interest that religious leaders should be wise and keep their followers calm. Religion, like race, is visceral. Once it is aroused, its fury cannot be easily contained. To quote the 18th Century French philosopher Blaise Pascal, he said: 'Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious convictions.' Religion when mixed with politics is an unholy and dangerous mixture. All parties must recognize clearly that a line exists between what belongs to the state and to politics and what belongs to religious faith and belief. If we do so, we will continue to enjoy peace. Sir, I support the motion.”
“Although they are public figures, it would be wrong for those of another faith to try to involve them in their religious ceremonies. Respect for another person's faith means that we should not intrude into his belief by involving him in the ceremonies of other religions. Some Members of Parliament have no personal objection in accepting invitations from any or all religious groups. It is, of course, their own choice which I respect. But if mutual respect is to mean something, religious groups should not expect or require all Members of Parliament to do the same. Sir, I have drawn a line for myself. I have declined official invitations from all groups to attend their religious ceremonies, although I have attended their functions which are not religious but are related to charity. I have also turned down official invitations by Christian groups to their religious activities although I am a Christian. It is not an easy line to draw because there will be some who will misunderstand the purpose. But if we believe that the separation is necessary especially in our context, then maintaining a certain distance between the state and all religions is important. If the two sides get too close to one another, religious friction and political involvement will be the result. In conclusion, Sir, Singapore has enjoyed an unprecedented period of religious peace and harmony. Religious leaders have been sensitive and sensible. They have sought quietly to meet their members' spiritual and personal needs. They should continue to concentrate on this. They have wisely not tried to seek publicity and to excite feelings. Let us keep it this way. There are many religious conflicts in the world today. Religious extremism and xenophobia in the world is on the rise again.”
“Sir, our Prime Minister said in a speech reported in the Straits Times on 14 December 1988, that Government Ministers and all Members of Parliament must serve all Singaporeans regardless of their religious beliefs. All Members of this House would surely concur with this. We are a secular state with a secular Constitution. The elected government is a secular government. Whatever our personal religious beliefs, we serve all Singaporeans regardless of their race, language or religion. However, Sir, I would like to add a corollary. I would like to ask that all religious groups should also recognize that this is a secular state. They should not expect special favours from Government. They should also avoid involving Government leaders and MPs publicly in their religious ceremonies and functions. I have two reasons for making this point. The first is this. If religious groups seek to involve government leaders and MPs in their religious activities, will this not lead to competition? All groups know that they will gain greater prominence if they can attract well-known public figures, like Members of Parliament, to attend their functions. This may be a perfectly normal human desire, but it will be a short step from this to competition by different religious groups for the attention, and even the patronage, of prominent state leaders. The converse will also be true. Political parties and politicians eager to win support will be tempted to move closer to certain religious groups. Where will it lead to? The competition and publicity can only excite feelings and increase rivalry and suspicion. My second reason is that mutual respect must work both ways. Government leaders and Members of Parliament have their personal beliefs, including religious beliefs.”
“People are looking to them for new solutions to their old problems. This explains the resurgence of all religions. We have practically all the major religions present in Singapore. The question is this: as they revive, what are the chances that they will come into rough contact with one another? What are the chances that those who seek radical social actions will exploit this revival to further their aims of revolutionary change? I am glad that the Government has recognized these dangers and will be looking into ground rules which will keep religion and politics separate. Such rules should not inhibit freedom of worship. The rules should seek to prevent the misuse of religion for political purposes. They should protect religion from abuse. I urge the Government to consult all religious groups as it formulates these rules, so that the intention and purposes will be clearly understood and accepted by all parties. Sir, I have no doubt that there are issues touching on moral or ethical principles which religious groups would want to draw attention to. These are legitimate grounds which may affect them in particular or society as a whole. There are two ways for them to handle these matters. The one way I do not recommend is that they take the matter to the public and organize pressure groups and publicity campaigns. However worthy the cause, this is political action. It will invite reactions from other groups. The better way is for the religious group to communicate its views to the Government and to discuss the matter confidentially and frankly in private. Consensus, agreement and good sense is more likely to be reached by this approach. The Government should keep its channels of communication open.”
“In our multi-racial, multi-religious context, the consequences of such things would be worse. The entry of any religious group into the public arena no matter what their cause will invite a response from other religious groups who do not want to be outdone. The chaos that could follow would be as bloody as that arising from inter-racial conflict. The problem is that religion appears to provide an attractive and almost sacrosanct cover. Misguided religious leaders may act from this vantage point believing that the Government would be reluctant to act against them because the Government does not want to be seen to be anti-religion. Worse, political activists and Machiavellian idealists may decide, for the same reason, that they should also operate from behind the shield of religion and in the name of religion. Sir, is this scenario far-fetched and alarmist? I do not think so. We have only to look at the religious/ political civil wars taking place in countries not far from us Sri Lanka, the Punjab. There is also a world-wide revival and resurgence of all religions. Two great ideologies have dominated this century: Communism which has captured political power in almost half the world and Individualistic Humanism or Individualism as a philosophy which has captured the hearts and minds of many, particularly in the affluent West. They have both failed. The communist leaders, Mr Gorbachev and Mr Deng Xiao-ping have said as much in their speeches and in their actions. In the West, Individualism promised ever-increasing individual freedom and happiness and self-realization. It has also failed. It has instead produced the breakdown of the family, the drug culture and disillusionment. The traditional religions are making a come-back.”
“They may by all means preach why their way is superior. But there is no need to denigrate others in doing so. Sometimes, in their enthusiasm for their faith, members of a religious group may decide to evangelize others without regard to whether they have espoused another religion. Some Christian groups do this. My advice to them is to refrain from doing so. There is a proper and orderly way for evangelism. Faith should, first, be borne out by the way one lives. And secondly, it should never be forced on other people. Religious leaders should therefore keep clearly in their minds that their primary role is to meet the spiritual and the personal needs of individuals. If they do so, the chances of friction with other groups will be minimized. Sir, religious organizations or religious leaders should never try to seek political power or even to influence politics. This is a particularly dangerous minefield for them to get into. When a small group of Catholics and non-Catholics began to organize for radical change under the cover of properly constituted religious organizations they breached this important principle. World history is replete with horrendous examples of the consequences when religion becomes involved with politics. The problem of separating church or religion from the state is not a new one. The debate goes as far back at least to St Augustine. In Europe, right through the Middle Ages and the Reformation, religious groups sought to dominate by capturing political power. States joining forces with the Vatican or with the Protestant churches fought bloody wars with one another. In our own continent, Asia, we still witness slaughter and bloodshed when religious groups seek to assert themselves by moving into the public, political arena.”
“It has been even-handed towards all groups. Sir, this happy state of affairs is likely to continue if religious leaders recognize that the right and proper function of religion is to meet the individual's spiritual and personal needs. From time immemorial, religions have provided an anchor and a compass for their believers. They embody core moral values and are responsible for transmitting them from generation to generation. They have contributed much to our society through welfare services, education and charitable works. All religions are primarily concerned with matters of the spirit and the transcendent. There are key events in everyone's life - birth, marriage and death. People experience happiness. They also experience distress and despair. At these times, many people turn to a religious faith. Religion has a unique role to play in being able to meet these personal needs. So long as religious organizations remember this, they will play a valuable role in our society. But if they should seek also to publicize themselves, to heighten their image and to impose themselves on others, this will lead to rivalry and competition from other religious groups. This will be the beginning of tension and disorder. Sir, it does not take much to arouse tensions. Insensitive job advertisements favouring applicants of a particular faith, careless and provocative remarks, even unintentional or intentional controversies started by letters to the press, these are enough to rouse emotions immediately. Religious sensitivities have arisen between different religious groups when criticisms are levelled by one group against another, usually by immature members of the group. Religious leaders have a responsibility to prevent such criticism. They should speak to the members of their group.”
“We have enjoyed real peace and harmony in Singapore for many years as far as matters of religious faith are concerned. This is despite the fact that we are a multi-racial, multi-religious society living in a small and crowded island. The more I think about this and compare ourselves with other countries bigger and better endowed than we are, the more I appreciate this fact. What has brought about this happy state of affairs? First and foremost, I believe that the vast majority of our people are pragmatic. They have exercised good sense and give and take in matters of religion. From time to time, there have been complaints about indiscriminate distribution of religious tracts. There have also been complaints about wind-blown ash and noise from religious ceremonies. The groups responsible for these have responded and generally moderate their practices. Good sense has prevailed and an easy accommodation of one another's practices has developed. The Government, the ultimate temporal authority of the land, has set a good example by being scrupulously fair and even-handed towards all religions. We are a secular state. The Constitution provides for freedom of worship for all our citizens. Religion is kept out of politics and the running of the country. It has not been allowed to become a factor in the social and economic life of our people. Imagine, Sir, how different the picture would be if it were otherwise, for example, if religion were a factor in job appointments, in educational opportunities or in the awarding of tenders and licences, practices which are common in religiously-biased states. There would be great indignation. We have been able to avoid this. The Government has not shown favour to any religious group nor has it discriminated against any group.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to speak in support of the motion standing in the name of the Member for Siglap. Sir, I will speak specifically on two topics, namely, religion and politics, and the Elected President proposal. May I speak first on the Elected President proposal. Sir, I am in full agreement that we need a two-key system for the future. With so much at stake, it would be wise to provide for a second key to guard our reserves and to protect the integrity of the public service. No one doubts the wisdom of this. However, opinions differ as to the means to achieve this end. The Elected President is certainly one way to provide a check and balance. There are other ways which should be considered. An Elected President, because he is elected, will have the mandate to check the government and Parliament in the key areas in which he has been given power. But election has one disadvantage. It leads to polarization. In making the change, will we be in danger of losing the office of Head of State which at present is above politics and acts as a symbol to unify all our people? In our multi-racial society, I believe that a President who is above politics is important. Other alternative methods to achieve a two-key system should be considered. One could be a Presidential Council. The Council could be elected or appointed. Its main strength will lie in its ability to alert Parliament and the public if it should disagree with the government of the day on the use of reserves or on key appointments. It could be as effective as the Elected President. I hope that this and other alternatives will be examined and I am glad that the Government in the President's Address has decided that the proposal will be fully discussed before a final decision is taken. On religion and politics.”
“I just want to clarify the point that his quotation is a misquotation.”
“Sir, can I just clarify this point? Mr Speaker: Mr Chiam, will you allow the clarification?”
“Sir, there is no plan to set up any committee to study this problem. In fact, the problem has been studied at great length and in depth by Mendaki itself which has come out with a number of schemes to help precisely the kind of students the Member is referring to.”
“Those who are 40 years plus, they comprise between 2-14%. It is quite low. This is a voluntary scheme. I think a lot of effort has been made to publicize it. The NTUC has done a great deal, together with the PAP education centres, to publicize these courses to workers and members of the public. I think no effort has been spared. Why is it we cannot reach the older workers? I think it is quite complex because older people have perhaps more family commitments, perhaps they are more set in their ways and therefore more difficult to persuade to come out to do something, perhaps they feel they have more face to lose if they attend a course with younger people. I think we recognize all these psychological, social factors. Nonetheless, we should make the effort and I would urge the NTUC, the branches of the Union, to do whatever they can to publicize it amongst their members and get groups of them to come in. The call that the Member made concerning changes that are going on in our economy is a real one. Skills get out of date and we have to re-skill people, give them new skills. Let me just give you a very concrete illustration of this. Over the past five years, VITB which constantly reviews its courses had to introduce 33 new skill courses. But in the same five years they had to delete 45 out-of-date skill courses. That is the rate at which changes are taking place. And I think our workers must know this. They have to re-skill themselves again and again in the course of their working life.”
“The target has still not been reached because the estimate is that about 225,000 workers would need this course. So we are barely half-way there. But we are pressing on. The WISE programme which enables workers to go beyond primary education right up to the 'N' level in English and Mathematics started only last year. The pilot programme started last year. The intake in March this year is on a full scale. The target intake was 7,000. The response has been overwhelming - 8,400 people registered for this course. That is a good sign, and this is a new programme which has plenty of development ahead. The MOST (Modular Skills Training) Course which started two years ago on a national scale has enjoyed increasing enrolment at each of its intake every six months. The January 1988 intake is 5,500 into a whole range of skill modules. Compare that with January 1987, a year before, - 4,000. There has been an increase of 40%. Finally, the COSEC programme which is a series of generic skills not peculiar to any one particular skill but useful for general workers, which is run by the National Productivity Board, has also enjoyed support, particularly from employer groups who use this for their in-house training. Sir, the question raised by the Member is: how do we extend this further to workers, particularly to those who are older and perhaps more in need of updating or upgrading themselves? The present profile of workers who take advantage of these courses is as follows. The biggest group of workers who are taking advantage of all these courses are those in the age group 21 to 30. They comprise 60% of all the participants. The next biggest group are those from 31 to 40. They comprise 25%. So 85% of the participants are between 21 and 40 years of age.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for Pasir Panjang for raising this question about training for people in the workforce. Today, we have in place a network of courses available for adults, working people, spread all over Singapore. These courses are the WISE programme, BEST programme, the MOST programme and the COSEC programme, courses which have rather attractive acronyms and are easy to remember. When these courses were developed, several considerations were very carefully thought-out taking into account the psychology of workers and their needs. For example, all these courses are part-time courses. Therefore, people do not have to give up their job and income to attend the courses. They are convenient. Secondly, they are made affordable with the help of the Skills Development Fund so that the fees for attending these courses are within the reach of every worker. Thirdly, most of these courses are available at the workplace so that the worker does not have to go home, take a shower and then come out again after dinner to attend the course. They are right there at the workplace and they are therefore convenient and within reach. If they are not at the workplace they will be at centres in the constituency which is within easy reach of the worker. A lot of care has gone into not only the development of the courses in terms of the curriculum but also in the infrastructure and availability and the convenience. The result of this is that these courses are very popularly received by workers. Let me just give you some figures. The BEST programme which has been in place the longest, since 1983, today has had 100,000 workers who have been through that course, whether one module or more modules.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for Kampong Ubi for raising two matters concerning the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. I have noted what he has mentioned and I will convey his remarks, first, to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies concerning the occasional seminars they run and they should inform the GPC members and their resource people. The second point about the grant to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the Ministry of Education will discuss this with the Finance Ministry. For this year, it has already been discussed and settled. It will have to be for the next year.”
“But even now, from the monitoring of schools and junior colleges which have the benefit of trained teachers, the programmes that are in these places have shown a marked improvement. There is much more enthusiasm among the students to do physical education courses in their schools or junior colleges. This augurs well for the development of the programme in the future. Sir, the Member asked whether there were any of the trained teachers who have left the College without becoming teachers. The answer is yes. This is a very small number. If I recall correctly, perhaps two or three have left without staying on to become teachers. That was in the first batch. Subsequently, we have put a bond on all teachers, including PE teachers who are undergoing training, to serve the Education Service for a minimum of three years. The reason for the bond is that all of them receive a bursary. They are being paid, in other words, to become trainees in either the PE College or in the IE itself. Therefore, it is only right that some obligation rest upon them to teach for at least three years before they contemplate leaving.”
“Sir, I would like to thank the Member for Pasir Panjang who brings up this subject each year to remind us that we should not neglect physical education in our schools. I wholly endorse his view on this and it is for that reason that the Ministry of Education started the College of Physical Education a few years back and a new campus is under construction now at Bukit Timah for this college. The College, as Members will notice, is presently an open ground with a lot of earth being filled. The reason for all that is because the land there is rather water-logged and swampy and so they have to do a lot of earthworks. But I am told by the IE that this new campus should be ready by 1990. The new building will be there. Until then, the College is making use of existing premises in the IE and therefore can only take in between 60 and 70 per batch of recruits for training. When the new campus is ready, the enrolment will increase to 100. Sir, two batches have now completed their Diploma in Physical Education and have been posted to schools. Depending on the size of the school and junior college, the number of qualified PE teachers posted to schools or junior college can vary between five and seven. On that basis, we calculate that we will require about 850 trained PE teachers for all our secondary schools and junior colleges. Presently, just over 300 PE teachers in our secondary schools and junior colleges are existing teachers. They have gone through conversion courses or upgrading courses to take on PE as one of their main teaching areas. That will help us reduce the total number we have trained. But I estimate that we will require between six and seven years before we can fill all the secondary schools and junior colleges with trained PE teachers.”
“They give them audio-visual presentations of the courses in VITB. They try to interest them in what is going on. In 1987 they briefed 10,000 pupils. This is an on-going programme every year. This has helped in making VITB courses better known to the pupils and their teachers and helping them to decide to go and to stay in a course when they eventually join the VITB. I may report that some of the briefings are so successful that some of the students tell their teachers they want to go to VITB immediately without finishing their Monolingual course or their Extended course. Of course, the teachers counsel them to stay on to finish it before they finally go. But that is an indication of the kind of briefing that is being carried out.”
“We are now thinking of taking steps such as compulsory counselling, not only of the would-be dropout or a student who wants to leave the course but of their parents as well because we believe that the parents have a big say at this stage in the decision made by the child. So we will introduce compulsory counselling of parents and their son or daughter who is thinking of leaving the course. Other measures include close monitoring, working in smaller groups so that there is better rapport between trainer and the trainees. We hope this will help to reduce the loss and increase interest in the trainees. Whether we should have a legislation to compel every one of them to stay for a minimum of three years in VITB, is an option which we do not close. We may have to introduce it if we have to in the future. But for the time being we want to give them every opportunity to decide. We persuade, we counsel, we create conditions attractive for them to want to stay in VITB for their training. If we can succeed in doing that, it is much better because you can take a horse to water but you cannot compel it to drink. If you compel people to do skills training when their heart is not there and the conditions are not right, I do not think it will necessarily get the results you want. One final point, Sir, just to inform the Member and other Members. A lot of effort is now being spent by VITB officers on visiting schools every year. For example, in 1987, VITB officers visited 159 primary schools, about the time of August/September. Their purpose is to go to every class in these schools where there are pupils in their Monolingual course who are about to finish and those who are in the extended course who are also about to finish. They brief the pupils with their teachers.”
“So by providing a more attractive programme, we believe that parents will then want their daughters to join this programme which gives them more education to prepare themselves either for work later on or even to become mothers themselves. Sir, the Member has raised a question, why is it that only 80% come in and what happened to the other 20%. Further, he has also pointed out quite pertinently that after the first year, not all 80% go on to the second year and certainly not all of them go on to the third year, which is what we would like. Our intention is that they should spend at least three years in VITB so that by the time they leave they will be 17(r) years or so. And in the case of the boys, they will be almost ready for national service and they would have received a further three years of education before they go into national service and then go on into the work place. I agree with the Member that we should not accept this loss either at the registration or in a subsequent promotion from one level to the next. This is an area again which has been studied by the VITB and certain steps will be implemented in January 1989 to reduce the loss rate. The loss is due to the fact that many of those who leave or who do not join the course either go on to getting a job because their parents who may be hawkers may want them to help in the hawker stall and so they have no strong desire for their children to continue with their education. It is a short-sighted view but you can understand their preference to do that. Others join the course but within one or two years in the VITB, for some reason they lose interest and want to go out and get a job. That is the kind of problem that we are faced with.”
“At the vocational institutes, not only are they studying skills, they are also continuing with their studies in English, in Mathematics, in attitudinal development. They enjoy ECA and all the other activities which normal schools provide. So it is an all-round education with a strong vocational and skill content. The numbers that have been registering and continuing with their education at VITB are quite large. As mentioned by the Member for Tanah Merah, 80% of them do indeed register. This is also true of the ones from the Extended courses. About 80% register with the VITB. It is interesting also to analyze and put these 80% into two groups, males and females. Sir, the registration for male primary school leavers is higher than 80%. In fact, it is nearer to 90%. But for the female primary school leavers, the percentage is lower. It is about 60%. The average is 80%. When counselling such people, we have discovered that the reason why males prefer to register and females less so is that the parents see that the male students need a skill because they have to go on to get a job and eventually become breadwinners. As for the girls, their parents are less interested in pushing them on to skills training. Sir, this is an area which we are now looking into with active programmes. We hope that by January 1989 we will have a new programme in place with courses and content which will be attractive to female primary school leavers so that they can continue with vocational education in the VITB. After all, Sir, they are only 14(r) or 15 years when they leave school. They still have another two or three years in which they can increase their education. And it will be a pity to just leave them out of the programme because parents do not see much point in it.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will address the question raised by the Member for Tanah Merah and let my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary, to deal with the question raised by the Member for Bo Wen. Sir, the question raised by the Member for Tanah Merah concerns pupils who leave our primary school system after completion of the Monolingual course as well as those who finish the Extended course and are unsuccessful in going on to secondary schools because they have failed their PSLE. These two groups of pupils are today channelled automatically to the VITB under what is known as the automatic registration system. This is to say that at the end of the year when the results are known, the students will not only get the results slip advising them of the results but, at the same time, on the same slip, they will be advised that they are registered with certain vocational institutes near their homes. So they know that they are not simply leaving school to do nothing but they have a place reserved for them at a vocational institute. And they are advised to report to that vocational institute by a certain date to complete the registration and to resume their studies at the vocational institute. This policy has been in place for a number of years and the purpose of the policy is to make sure that such primary school leavers will progress automatically to skill and vocational training with the minimum of disruption or the minimum of effort on their part to seek out a vocational institute and to register themselves. They are automatically registered. As a result of this policy, large numbers of such primary school leavers do indeed register and carry on with their studies at the vocational institutes.”
“The second common factor is unemployment. Many of the drug addicts, half of them, have no jobs. They are unable to hold down jobs, they have no skills. That is the old group that went through the system without skills training. I have said earlier that many of them today now go to skills training at least before they finally go into the workplace. I think that would help the problem.”
“First of all, I just want to point out that the main risk group which has been identified by the Ministry for Home Affairs are youths or young people in the age group 20 to 30. They are not school-going children. They are aged 20 to 30. They comprise two-thirds or 63% of all these cases. Those below 20, of school-going age, 8.7%; so it is a minority. This group from 20 to 30 years are people who dropped out from school six to 16 years ago. In fact, they were people who left school before the new education system with streaming came into place. So we have to bear that in mind. With the present children in school going through primary, even monolingual, going on to VITB for training and so on, they are in a training institution for up to 10 years. They would have acquired skills, they would have had more education than the high risk group that I spoke about. So I think this augurs well for the future that these people will be less likely to turn to drugs for various reasons. Sir, the Member has also pointed out that there is perhaps a need to increase moral education to help Muslim pupils. I have a great respect for the importance of religious faith in matters of this kind. But I just want to point out that many Chinese youths are not particularly religious and yet not many of them turn to drugs. Sir, the underlying reason for drug addiction is much more complex. Two common factors that run through all drug addicts, whether they be Chinese, Malays or Indians or others, are No.1, lack of family supervision and family control. This has come out clearly in the study from Ministry of Home Affairs. It is that one factor which causes young people to go astray because their parents have no control over them or are not even interested in controlling them.”
“The first section deals with three different topics - the foundations of Islam, devotional practices and the individual and the family (teachings concerning the individual and the family). Then a new section 2, Sir, will deal with social and ethical teachings and on the issues that were mentioned by the Member for Kampong Ubi - problems of drug addiction, of divorce, family life, and so on, social and ethical teachings. This is a new section which has been given more prominence. Section 3 will deal with Islamic history and schools of thought and prominent personalities which is more on historical review. Sir, one important change which has taken place is that instead of devoting about 40% of the syllabus (which was the old syllabus on historical aspects), the historical content has now been dropped to 29%. So the greater part of the syllabus is on modern topics, and social and ethical teachings. The Member asked whether we could inform the teachers of IRK to pay more attention to this, particularly to improve the ways they are teaching this important subject to Muslim students. We will convey this back to the specialist inspectors and to the teachers. They will run workshops because when a new syllabus comes into place, teacher workshops have to be organized. I think that is the right place where the whole issue of better teaching can be brought about. I turn now to the point raised by the Member for Tanah Merah concerning drug problems and whether we can bring forward the IRK to Secondary 1 and 2. Sir, first of all, let me just talk about this problem of drug addiction in the light of the information that was released by the Minister for the Environment recently where Malay youths have shown the highest increase in drug addiction.”
“If we have such an examination, what would be the consequences? Plenty of rote learning and memorizing. The very thing that educators, university academics, even Members of this House, have decried from time to time. We do not want too much rote learning, we do not want memorizing. But if we go for a stereotyped examination, that is what you get. And so what happens? We must have problem sums that test application, ability to apply the knowledge the child has acquired. And I think this, the Member will agree, is very desirable from the educational point of view. Sir, I want to turn quickly now to the other questions raised by the Member for Kampong Ubi and the Member for Tanah Merah on Islamic Religious Knowledge. The first point raised by the Member for Kampong Ubi. I would like to inform him that the syllabus for the Islamic Religious Knowlege for '0' levels has undergone a revision. When the programme started in 1984 for extension to all schools, there was a Committee comprising members from the MUIS, including the Mufti, chaired by Prof Syed Hussein Alatas, and also specialist members from MOE. This Committee worked out the revised syllabus for IRK in 1984. Since then, there has been another revision and the revision was started in 1986, and the new syllabus or modified syllabus will be implemented for the '0' levels 1988 this year. Sir, let me tell him what changes have taken place. In the revision the Committee comprising MUIS members and MOE members fully recognized the need to make some modifications to bring the syllabus in line with modern social needs, in particular, of the Malay community. They have therefore structured the new syllabus into three sections instead of two.”
“You will appreciate, Sir, that it has to be a very small number for security reasons. It should not be widely known which questions have been chosen for that year's PSLE. But experienced people are involved in setting the questions. There are moderators who moderate what have been set as questions and finally they are selected by a small committee for the final paper. And all this is in accordance with the table of specificatons or specifications of what type of questions, which are made widely known to all the schools conducting the PSLE. Sir, what the Member is raising is whether in the PSLE examination there should be room for a variety of questions. I agree with him that there should be a variety of questions. As a matter of fact, all PSLE question papers have several parts. In the case of Mathematics, there are three parts to that paper. Part 1 is very basic computation. If you can add, multiply, subtract and divide, you can get your questions right in Part 1. Part 2 is a little bit more complicated, requiring a little bit more knowledge of manipulation of mathematical operations. Part 3 contains what we call problem sums. Problem sums are problems which test the ability of a student to apply the principles and the basic knowledge he has learned to problem situations; for example, if two apples cost $5, how much will 10 apples cost, and so on. That is a problem sum. Sir, in an examination it is deliberately created so that there are different levels of difficulty making different tests on the student's ability. I am sure the Member would agree with me that the last thing we want is a stereotype examination where every question is more or less the same type as the one asked the previous year, and you can spot all the questions.”
“It is not the Ministry's view. As I said, if it were true, then the Science paper would have manifested the difficult questions, and so would the English paper. It was one question in the PSLE Mathematics paper which I think drew the attention of the Member, and perhaps even other Members in this House. I recall, Sir, that they were discussing this question and, in fact, some Members could not do it, including the Member for Chong Boon. But let me hasten to add that I followed up the point raised by Members to me privately and asked the examiners of our PSLE to find out how the students did in it. Many students got it right. Let me explain a little what the examination system is, particularly the PSLE examination system. Because I do not want anyone to have any doubts about how the examinations are set, the trouble to which the examiners go about the business of setting the examinations year after year. We have a lot of experience in this examination which has been with us for more than 20 years. All PSLE questions are set by a panel of examiners. The panel of examiners comprise specialists in the subject, experienced principals and teachers. They set a lot of questions and they know the standards to which the examination is addressed. The questions are set within the table of specifications which define the syllabus all the way up to PSLE. So there are no surprises in the sense that everything is based fully upon what is expected in the syllabus at PSLE. When all these questions have been set and verified and checked by moderators, the questions are then taken over by a very small group of two or three people. They will select from that whole list of questions the final questions which will go before the PSLE examination.”
“If that were true, then the Science paper would have also been difficult, the English Paper would also have been difficult because the gifted education pupils do all four of the PSLE papers. In fact, they do a fifth paper, Social Studies. So to link the two, I would say it is totally unfounded. There is no basis at all.”
“Sir, the various Members have raised quite a wide range of issues. I would like to take the point raised by the Member for Chong Boon first. Sir, he has raised a point of concern among parents - that the PSLE examination last year, particularly the Mathematics paper, was unduly difficult. He has gone on to draw from that the conclusion that the paper was difficult because the gifted education pupils, about 100 of them, were doing the PSLE last year for the first time and that is why the paper has been made difficult in ordr to cater for their needs. He has linked the PSLE Mathematics paper with the gifted education group of students. Sir, I want to dispel this and say categorically that this is totally untrue. There is no connection at all.”
“Before we introduced streaming in the 1970s, 12,000 left school prematurely from primary schools every year. That is a six times reduction in the dropout rate. To reduce it to human terms, that is a saving of 10,000 pupils. That is one-quarter of our cohort from becoming dropouts every year. It has taken us quite a number of years to bring this about patiently with a lot of effort in the schools to reduce the dropout rate. Streaming is the central part of it that has made this possible because students can be catered for according to their ability and given the time to complete their course. So before we write off streaming and say, "Streaming is bad", just think of the cost we had to pay before we had streaming and think of the benefits that we have gained after so many years of hard work to bring this about.”
“You have had your 10 minutes. I am just trying to fill in with the few minutes I have. If it were as simple as passing a law to achieve excellence in education, then why would this Government be so foolish as not to have a law here and simply sign the law and pass it and you have excellence in education overnight? Because it is not so simple. It takes tremendous programmes to bring about good education. Let me just take one example. Britain has had compulsory education for years, probably the first country in the world to have compulsory education. It still has it, 10 years of compulsory education. Today, in Singapore where we do not have compulsory education, our 'O' level results, man for man, are better than the British. You reflect upon that. They are worried about their 'O' level results, their 'A' level results, to the extent that there is a great move in Britain now to change their examination system, the supervision of their schools, their curriculum. And that is compulsory education. We never had compulsory education and today I can say that our students do better in the 'O' level results, cohort for cohort, compared with the British. He has also touched upon dropouts and streaming. I know he always comes back to this point because he is no admirer of our policies. But let me just say this about streaming. We have this since 1980-81. Let me just give you one example. Last year, the number of students who left primary school was about 2,000. Just over 2,000 students left primary schools. They became dropouts. And they left not necessarily because they failed exams. They left for a variety of reasons, including emigrating, leaving Singapore with their parents for whatever reasons. But just over 2,000 left the system from primary schools.”
“He obviously believes that by the passing of a law, the quality of education will improve overnight and there will be tremendous progress made, meaning that fewer people will drop out from schools and everything will be as the Australians say "hunky dory". Sir, if it were as simple as that and it is on his party platform, on his manifesto, to bring in compulsory education ---”
“If we were to take the Member's suggestion that they should come under the Government ambit and become Government schools, then I think bureaucratic norms will be applied. Freedom to employ will be affected. Freedom to set the curriculum even will be affected. This is a trade-off. The Member should ask himself whether this is a trade-off that is worth having. Right now, they are fully independent schools with quite complete freedom to do whatever they want. And at the same time, they draw upon the Government for funding as well as for professional advice, which is made freely available to them. We invite experts from Australia and elsewhere to come and run special courses here at our expense for the teachers in these special courses. Sir, he has raised a few other points which I may take up only very briefly now. As the Member knows, there is an advisory committee which has been set up together with the other five advisory committees to look into various aspects. One of them is on the disabled. And this committee will be chaired by my Minister for Education. I think at that committee, many of the points that the Member has raised concerning the running of these schools, whether they can be integrated with normal schools and so on can be discussed at great length. Finally, I would like to deal with one or two points raised by the Member for Potong Pasir. The Member spoke at great length and with great enthusiasm about compulsory education. I can see that he is a great admirer and believer in compulsory education. He cited countries like Japan, Britain and so on which have compulsory education by law.”
“The Government funds the education of the disabled in Singapore in four ways. First, we provide buildings at nominal cost. I think it is a dollar a year rental or something, very nominal. And we renovate these buildings for them to a standard that they want. Secondly, we provide teachers. These are teachers seconded from the Education Service to serve in these special schools according to a formula or schedule which we have agreed with all the special schools, namely, for every 25 children we provide one teacher. And as their enrolments increases, we will continue to provide teachers to meet that norm. Where we cannot provide teachers because we ourselves are short of teachers, we give them the leeway to recruit relief teachers or others who are quite suitable for teaching in the special schools and their salaries are paid by the Government as relief teachers. The third way in which we help the education of the disabled is teacher training. The Member knows that there is a programme in the Institute of Education which takes in people who want to specialize in the teaching of the disabled, whether it is the blind, the deaf, the ESN or the mentally retarded. And they do a Certificate in Special Education. This programme has been running since 1983-84. Finally, of course, we provide funds, funding for the teachers, funding for some of the facilities that they have. So I think in all ways, except for taking full responsibility and running these schools, we fund them. The responsibility for running the schools is vested with these charitable organizations which have complete freedom and say over what they want to do in these schools. They can set the curriculum. They can decide whom they want to employ. They are independent schools.”
“Indeed, there are enrichment programmes. For example, many schools today take advantage of the enrichment programmes offered by the Science Centre. The Science Centre for 1988 has 135 different enrichment courses available to schools to pick and choose all kinds of topics. Many schools take advantage of this and bring the children to the Science Centre for these programmes. So there is opportunity for enrichment but not of a high content level as we would expect in the gifted programme. I would ask the Member to consider this point. I would now like to turn my attention to the points raised by the Member for Serangoon Gardens concerning the teaching of disabled children in Singapore. Sir, he made a remark which I am afraid I cannot accept, which is that the education of the disabled in Singapore is a neglected field. It is not a neglected field. I would just cite one or two examples of this. I was privileged last year to be invited to the opening of the ESN School at Anthony Road which is near to the Newton MRT station. They had just renovated the place and it is one of their main centres. I was very pleased to see the quality of programmes that they were running in this ESN School. The teachers I spoke to were well trained, well motivated. The facilities that they had put together in this school were some of the best that I have ever seen. I mean they are better than kindergartens or even our primary school facilities. They had a lot of audio visual aids as well as equipment. And all this is possible with very close cooperation between the Ministry of Education, the Government and the Association of the ESN. They, of course, have raised money from their well wishers. We have also funded them in many ways.”
“She has also pointed out areas for improvement, methodology and so on. This is something which we will certainly take into account as we continue to improve the programme for this group of intellectually gifted children. He asked if this programme could be extended to others. Sir, the programme that we are running for the gifted education group of students is essentially an enrichment programme. What does this mean? This means that we give the children a lot more material, projects, and extend them beyond the school syllabus. We enrich them on topics which go beyond the school syllabus and school curriculum. The reason we are able to do this is that they are able to take it. In fact, they thrive on it. So they are given research assignments where they have to go to libraries to look up topics way beyond what is covered in mathematics or physics or literature, the normal subjects in school. And they do this without any negative effects on their normal school curriculum which they have to cover anyway. When the question of extension to other students outside the programme arises, I think the question ought to be asked: is it possible for normal students or average students to work way beyond the syllabus that they have to cover? As the Member knows full well, one of the problems that many teachers encounter in schools is to cover the existing syllabus. Because effort is needed, children take time to master the existing syllabus. So before we think of applying what has been learnt in the gifted programme, particularly in enrichment way beyond the syllabus, to average students, I think we must be very careful about the work load, not to overload them and to stress them. But that is not to say that in the normal classes in schools there are no enrichment programmes.”
“Sir, I would like first to reply to the points brought up by the Member for Ayer Rajah and the Member for Serangoon Gardens and then I would like to just touch very briefly on the points brought up by the Member for Potong Pasir. Sir, the Member for Ayer Rajah made a plea that we should look into the matters that he brought up yesterday, the feedback he has obtained from teachers and principals. We will certainly do this. I would like to say that, in fact, the same appeals have also come in the dialogues that we have had between the Ministry officials and principals and teachers. That is what I meant when I said that they are not new issues. Many of them are not so easy to solve because money is involved when we employ people. Having more staff means changing norms. Others are easier to solve, such as posting of teachers. Where individual problems are brought up to the GPC, I would appreciate it if the Chairman of the GPC will bring them up directly with us so that we can solve them on a case by case basis. Sir, he mentioned the gifted education programme and asked whether it was effective, whether the Ministry is happy with it. I am able to say that the Ministry is happy with the programme. Our reason for saying this is that not only have we had four years now running the programme and had a chance to monitor it and to check it out very thoroughly, but we have also, from time to time, brought in consultants. In fact, the latest consultant from the United States came at the end of last year to have a good look at the programme. This consultant independently looked at the programme, gave us a report that she was satisfied that the programme is comparable with the good quality programmes that she knows of in the United States.”
“Sir, the Ministry is aware of the 'A' levels that all these students have to do. And in the selection of teachers to be posted to junior colleges and to Pre-U centres, we take very much into account the academic background, the expertise, qualifications, and experience of the teachers. SPILLAGE FROM REFUSE TRUCKS (Prevention of) 4. Dr Koh Lam Son asked the Minister for the Environment whether he is aware of the stench on roads caused by sullage water spilled from his Ministry's trucks and what measures he will take to prevent it.”
“Sir, I do not have the figures. But I remember this question being asked here at Question Time sometime ago, comparing the library facilities in Pre-U centres with those in junior colleges. As regards the number of books per student, a norm which we observe, for junior colleges and Pre-U centres it is exactly the same, namely, for every student they will get 15 books allocated for their library. So in that sense, the provision for Pre-U centres is the same as for junior colleges. Granted that the library in a Pre-U centre may be a smaller one and not as big as that in the junior college, but the junior college is a very much bigger institution.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, it is true that in the Pre-U centres in secondary schools the students are taught in classrooms. Whereas in the junior colleges they are taught in lecture theatres, in very much larger groups. It can be argued that for some students the classroom method of teaching is, in fact, superior to that of a large lecture theatre where you receive a lecture en masse. So it can be argued that those who are in the Pre-U centres in fact have smaller classes and more personal attention in teaching.”
“Sir, it is not true that the students in the 3-year Pre-U centres located at secondary schools are neglected. First of all, the enrolment is quite small. In any secondary school, the number of Pre-U students would number at most a few hundred compared to the junior college which may have an enrolment of 2,000. So they get quite a lot of personal attention. The facilities that they have are not as good as that in junior colleges. That is to say they do not have sports fields and all the other ECA facilities that junior college premises have. But I do not think that has any bearing on the academic performance.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I agree with the Member for Serangoon Gardens. But it is not a question of channelling students as if they were people that we could simply direct. We have to persuade them because finally they make their own choice and it is their own future. We have provided as much information as we can at 'O' levels to students who are looking ahead to their junior college, Pre-U centre or Polytechnic options. I could say that many of the students who go to Pre-U centres are those who have applied to the Polytechnics but because of competition are unable to get into the Polytechnics and they choose the Pre-U centres as a second option.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the performance of the students who do the 3-year Pre-U course is generally not as good as those doing the junior college course. The reason is simply that these are students whose performance at 'O' levels is inferior to those who have gone on to the junior college. They have weaknesses, for example, in English or in Mathematics or in some of the core subjects that they have had to take at 'O' levels. Even though they have a 3-year course compared to the 2-year junior college course, it is still a difficult task for them to do well at the 'A' levels.”
“But it is not a 100% satisfactory arrangement because some teachers find it difficult, after such a course, to conduct these classes and so some have reverted back to become Second Language teachers. This is a problem which has no perfect solution and we can only work at it with further conversion courses when needed. I think I have covered all the points that the Member has raised and I would be happy to deal with his other points personally.”
“Much as some teachers may be unhappy or grumble about the amount of work they have to do, I think ultimately the results speak for themselves, and the credit must go to the teachers who have put in all that hard work. I would hesitate to review this system that we have - continual assessment and end-of-term examinations - without taking very careful cognizance of the consequences on the education our children will receive. What has been working is satisfactory. We should fine-tune it and improve upon it, but we should not go for radical changes in the curriculum or in the methods that are well tested in schools. He brought up the subject of difficulty of principals getting the kind of teachers they want. As an example, the bottom-up approach apparently has not worked. Of course, principals want certain types of teachers for certain subjects. I think, as far as is possible, within the manpower constraints that we have and the mix of teachers that we have, we try to give schools the teachers that are required by their vacancies. If a school requires an Art teacher, we will certainly not send the school a Chemistry teacher who cannot draw. That is something which no administration would do on purpose. So, where possible, we would try to meet with the nearest qualification of a teacher who would do the job in that school. The Member mentioned about teachers who have been converted. Yes, we have converted teachers from the Second Language streams to teach other subjects. This is necessary because they would otherwise become redundant. Over the years we have run many courses to convert nearly a thousand teachers to teach in various other subjects like Mathematics, Science, and so on, where the language requirement is not so high.”
“This was one of their recommendations and we have noted that recommendation and, in fact, endorsed it. The problem, Sir, is one of money. It is easy to recruit one clerk for a school. But when you have 450 schools, you have to think of recruiting 450 clerks, and that becomes a big financial issue. Of course, this is something which the Ministry of Finance will have to scrutinize and agree, much as we would like to have an additional clerk in schools. That applies to library assistants and others, because it is always a question of fairly large numbers of people, not just for one school but for all schools. The other point he has brought up is the problem of too many assessment tests, therefore, they are taxing the children in schools. I think this has been brought up before. There is a balance between assessment or continual assessment tests and the end-of-term and end-of-year examinations. To have one without the other would be inadequate. So schools try to strike a balance between these two, so that the child, throughout the year in school, will have a good idea of how he or she is performing before he takes the final examination. I think that is a balanced and a fair system. I think the end-results speak for themselves. There has been an improvement over the years in '0' level results, in 'A' level results. The PSLE results have been consistently good. I think parents find that the system is helping their children and they are reasonably satisfied with what is coming out of schools. Of course, teachers have to work hard to achieve this. All these results have come about not without any effort on the art of not only the students but of the teachers as well.”