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, I want to thank the Member for Kolam Ayer for his fairly long speech. I am glad to note that, in fact, one of the characteristics of Singaporeans, and I include all of us here, is that we are quite terse in what we say and that we very seldom use very long words and long sentences. Evidence of that is the fact that we are running a litte bit ahead of time in our schedule here in the debate because our speeches are rather terse and to the point. On the point that he has made about instructions in schools and communication in schools, I agree with him that there is, of course, room for improvement - better communication among principals and teachers, heads of departments and teachers. For that reason, Sir, it is in the Diploma in Education (Administration) course that we require all principals and future principals to go through, at the IE, the Further Professional Certificate in Education as well. For those who want to become heads of departments in their schools, communication skills is very much a part of that course. It is really to improve inter-colleague communications within the school community. Sir, I turn now to the long list of points that were raised by the Member for Ayer Rajah. Many of the points he raised are not new points. They have been raised before and I can assure him that to the best of our ability we try to minimize these problems that he has mentioned. Some of them are rather more difficult to solve than appears at first hand. Take, for example, the question of auxiliary staff - clerks, library assistants, and so on. The Ministry has noted and endorsed this point brought up by the Committee of Principals who put up a report last year on Towards Excellence in Schools.”
“On the wider issues about the role of university education, whether it is merely to meet manpower requirements for the nation's needs or whether it has a wider role than that, I think this is a subject of debate which has no simple conclusion. It is really a balance of a number of things that we all desire. Obviously, university education which is the most costly form of education in any country must be related to the needs of employment, job market, so that when people graduate after spending so much time and money, there should be a satisfying job for them. So we cannot divorce it from economic needs. When we talk of higher needs for self-fulfilment and so on, university is not the only channel in which a person can get self-fulfilment. People who go through other kinds of courses which are non-degree courses do go on to extra-mural courses, short courses or long courses, to achieve self-fulfilment. This may not be specifically for an economic objective. So I would hesitate going into this broader debate because it is a debate which has no simple answer and, in fact, individuals do look for their own self-fulfilment requirements, whether within a degree course or even outside a degree course.”
“The Member made one interesting point which I would like to endorse and support here. He has indicated that it would be more appropriate for some students who are eligible to go to junior colleges to do the 'A' levels, to go to the polytechnics rather than to the junior colleges. I think this point has also been brought up by my Minister in his speech earlier. It is true that out of all the students who are eligible to go to the junior colleges every year, more than a quarter of them decide not to go to the junior colleges. And many of them go to the polytechnics to do a 3-year diploma course. The studies that we have carried out over a number of years now also indicate that students who have 15-20 points who are eligible to go to junior colleges or the pre-U centres to do 'A' levels are the very kind of students who would benefit more from going to one of our polytechnics to do a diploma course. The evidence is quite strong. For example, in that range of 'O' level points, barely one in five students when they do 'A' levels will do well enough or get enough 'A' levels for admission into NUS. On the other hand, their counterparts in the same group who go to the polytechnics, more than 90% of them will come out with a professional diploma which will see them to a good job. I think that point is taken. His suggestion as to whether students would choose to go to one course or the other is not a simple matter because their own personal choices are involved. But what we can certainly do is to inform students at the school level much more about the prospects of going through a diploma course as against going to a junior college or a pre-U centre to do an 'A' level.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Member for Leng Kee has raised not only very specific details as provided in the schedule but also some more general questions about the purpose of university education, whether it should be closely linked only to manpower needs or to the broader issue of educational requirements of people and trend setting for the society as a whole, as he put it. I think he is actually trying to strike a balance because, on the one hand, he says that the university has its wider purpose and, on the other, he produces a very specific manpower plan, which he has tabled for all of us. I find the plan that he has tabled for our consideration is a very interesting one with great detail, down to specific numbers. I am unable to comment straightaway whether these numbers are appropriate for Singapore in 1988, 1990 or 1999. But certainly we will look at these figures and we will certainly also send these figures to the Ministry of Trade and Industry who are concerned with the economic manpower needs of Singapore. I think it is an important point here because we recognize that a cohort of school leavers now is about 35,000-40,000 people. That is the size of the number of Singaporean school leavers of all types. When they leave school, they have to finally find their way into the country's economy, whether in the armed forces, whether in manufacturing, in the service sector and so on. So it is a problem of how to allow all these limited manpower resources we have to go into the most appropriate channels that they want to go into, where their talents can be best used for the good of themselves as well as the country as a whole. So I will take his figures with interest and I will forward them to the appropriate departments for closer examination.”
“Sir, I felt I should join in this discussion about history because the Member for Potong Pasir obviously not only does not understand history but he is also prepared to take history and turn it around. We are referring to the Maria Hertogh riots in the early 50's. His point is that it was a non-racial riot. I do not know where he was at that time. I certainly was around when it happened and I can testify on a first-hand basis that it was racial. A neighbour of mine, a Swiss gentleman, Mr Richards, was driving a car in town on the day of the riots. A perfectly harmless person, he happened to be white. He was stopped by a group of rioters. The only reason the group of rioters attacked him and nearly killed him was because he was white. I do not think you should just take historical lessons and give them a new interpretation to suit your party's interests, because if you have no sense of history and you are prepared to take history and turn it on its head, then I do not know what credibility means. I think you should be prepared to accept evidence of history and not try to twist things to the interest of your own party line.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the registration of children for admission to Pre-primary and Primary 1 classes in 1988 ended on 17th August, 1987. The Ministry is presently processing the registration forms and compiling statistics. When the data are available, I shall send them to the Member for Yuhua and to other Members of the House for information. DEVELOPMENT OF SERANGOON CENTRAL (Completion date) The following Question stood in the name of Mr Goh Choon Kang - 16. To ask the Minister for National Development when the development of Serangoon Central will be completed and whether a hawker or cooked food centre will be built there. Dr S. Vasoo (Bo Wen): Question 16, Sir.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, there is a certain amount of administrative work that every teacher must do, eg, keeping class registers, collecting school fees from pupils of the class at the beginning of every month. But a lot of the administrative work, such as compiling examination grades and working out the percentages these days, is being done by computers as we are providing schools with microcomputers and links with the central computer of the Ministry. 1988 PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY 1 CLASSES (Utilization rate for 3-child priority) 15. Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for Education how many parents with three children have made use of the priority for a 3-child family for admission into the 1988 pre-primary and primary one classes.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think teachers a generation ago had as much administrative work to do as they do today. Perhaps they even had more to do. I remember there were teachers in the rural schools who had to make sure that chickens did not come into the classroom and do a lot of things of that kind. So I do not that it is any more today than it was a generation ago.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I cannot give a breakdown of the reasons why teachers leave the teaching service. But I can tell the Member that as a whole the percentage of teachers who leave the teaching service in any one year is less than 2%.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I can assure the Member that the state of health of our teachers is good, if not, very good.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the points that the Member has made regarding smaller class sizes, remedial classes and so on, have been taken because these are measures which we are already implementing in our schools. As for a smaller group of Malay pupils in a school, there are schools today with enrolments of 5% or 10% Malay pupils.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am not sure what the Member means that the Ministry has not made a thorough study of this matter. Perhaps he would like to bring out some instances of this.”
“Sir, this policy was taken up as a result of a request from the Malay Members of Parliament who are well acquainted with the failure rates as well as the success rates of Malay pupils in different schools.”
“Sir, I am answering on behalf of my Minister again. Statistics show that Malay children in primary schools with a high concentration of Malay pupils performed poorly in PSLE as compared with their counterparts in schools with a lower proportion of Malay pupils. Where Malay pupils comprised 30% or more of the school enrolment, over one-third of them failed their PSLE. The failure rate among Malay pupils in schools where they formed not more than 10% of the school population was less than 20%. With regard to the second part of the question, I have dealt with the matter in my reply to the question from the Member for Eunos.”
“Because of this, whatever the length of time I spent and whatever Chinese education I received in Chinese schools in those days had been very brief compared with the present time. Altogether I think in total the time I spent in Chinese schools had been only 6-7 years, and if I was not fully loaded with Chinese literature or education, I had at least some substance in Chinese education. This problem is not unique to Singapore. It has something to do with the use of Chinese language by the Chinese population, say, in Hong Kong ---”
“The question of Chinese education goes back to a few years ago when Chinese education fell into the hands of those so-called experts who were English-educated but did not know any Chinese. Even now Chinese newspapers have met with the same fate. The problem lies in the design of the Chinese textbooks which is entirely wrong. I remember when I was a Minister of the Government, I had also mentioned this problem relating to the teaching of Chinese which was by a tikam-tikam type of method or lottery type of method, such as using forms for filling up the blanks or marking true or false. These were multiple choice questions for the students to try their luck. In other words, it was the easy way for the students to learn Chinese and they did not have to put in hard work or memorize how to write Chinese characters. The students need only fill up the answers with plus or minus signs, choosing either number 1, 2 or 3, filling up the blanks with choice words, or showing whether a sentence is true or false, and so on. So in this way the standard of Chinese has gradually been lowered. This kind of teaching, to say the least, caused harm to the students, in that even if they did not pay any attention to studying, there was still a 50% chance of passing the exams. I was not so lucky in my school days, particularly in primary school. Everyday the teacher asked me to write a short diary and then every week there must be a weekly diary. During school holidays, the teacher also set a set of extra-curricular books for me to read, after which I had to write a report on what I got out of reading such books. Some students, of course, would ask somebody else to write for them. But I wrote it myself. Sometimes I would write for other students.”
“Mr Chairman, I thank the Member for Ayer Rajah for his support for CDIS and his confidence in CDIS. He mentioned the Science textbook that was published six years ago. CDIS did not start writing Science textbooks until a little later than that. I think he must have been referring to a private re-written textbook. CDIS textbooks are of a high standard because they are written by a very professional teamwith outside consultants who monitor the work of the team. I assure him that the Ministry will continue to support the work of the CDIS in producing better materials for all our schools. On the question of school libraries, the Member will recall that the Ministry has a large budget to build up the libraries in all our schools. In fact, if I recall correctly, we have between $25-$30 million dollars to build up all the libraries. And the norms that we are building up to are eight books per pupil for primary schools, 10 books per pupil for secondary schools and 12 books per pupil for junior colleges. Mr Jek Yeun Thong (Queenstown)( In Mandarin): Mr Chairman, Sir, I will avail myself of this opportunity to talk about the question of textbooks for Chinese education. Perhaps you may think that I will be duplicating what I was saying yesterday. But I would like to touch on the speech of the Member who a while ago touched on CDIS. In my view, the teaching or learning of Chinese does not consist of how many thousand Chinese characters or phrases should be learnt alone. It is not as simple as that. I do not mean to say that if your head is as bald as the Member for Leng Kee's, then you are the same person. You cannot identify one with the other just by the look of your head.”
“But at the same time, we respect the position that these schools are autonomous schools. They are independent, able to make their own policy decisions on enrolments, on the curriculum they wish to follow, on the staff they wish to employ. I think the position is a good one where the schools continue to enjoy full autonomy with financial and professional support being provided by the Government. Sir, I want to move now to the points raised by the Member for Potong Pasir. There is only one point that he raised which I want to touch on, that is, Parent-Teacher Associations. I agree with him that parents can be and should be more involved in schools. They can bring a lot of experience to help the schools. And there are many schools in Singapore that enjoy this kind of parental support. As to the setting up of Parent-Teacher Associations, this is a matter which we have never discouraged. In fact, the initiative is left with schools and, indeed, a number of schools have taken the initiative to set up Parent-Teacher Associations, either formal or informal ones, with the main objective of involving parents in the welfare of the school and drawing their support, not only financial support but even their personal presence in the school, helping the school's programme.”
“So the whole thrust of a school appraisal is based on the school with intentions of helping the school overcome its problems and to make improvements as they go along. I think the Member will agree with me that this is the right direction and this is way the Ministry has been conducting school appraisals since 1981. He raised the point about disabled children. I do not disagree with him at all, Sir, that we should do whatever we can to help disabled children acquire some form of education. Indeed, the Government is doing as much as it can in this direction in three ways. Firstly, providing financial help to the special schools which are run by various voluntary organizations. Financial help goes towards paying for teachers employed by these schools and, in some instances, it includes teachers seconded from the Ministry of Education to these schools and they are paid by the Ministry of Education. That is a very substantial form of help provided for these schools. Secondly, professional help is given to these schools through the Institute of Education who run courses on special education. Teachers employed by these schools can go to the IE to attend these courses and improve their own skills. There is also help provided by specialist inspectors in the Ministry of Education who are familiar with this area of special education, and they make regular visits to the schools. And thirdly, in the provision of buildings and renovation of buildings, the Government is providing buildings to special schools as and when the need arises and the Government carries the financial burden of renovating these buildings, and they are leased to the schools at very nominal rentals. As far as help and support is concerned, I think as much as possible is being done.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I would like to respond first to the point raised by the Member for Bo Wen - question of school appraisal. Today the appraisal of schools is carried out in several ways. Periodically, a school will be appraised by a team from the Ministry of Education comprising inspectors, specialist inspectors and others from Curriculum Division. They go to a school with the primary objective of appraising the school's programme, what the school has set out as its objectives, and what programmes the school is carrying out or intends to carry out. So the focus is on the school's programme. This is quite different from the old days when an inspector went to the school to inspect the performance of a principal or a teacher. That was very much based on the individual. So I would like the Member to appreciate that there is a difference. The reason for this change is precisely the point he has brought up, that is, through this means, it would concentrate on programme rather than on performance of individuals and therefore more mutual trust can be built up for the good of the school. And in the process, of course, advice, discussions will bring about better programmes for schools. In addition to this, schools carry out their own self-appraisal. In other words, every year they map out their own objectives and their own programmes. This is a process that every school does for itself. Specialist inspectors in the Ministry of Education also make visits to schools periodically, and specialist inspectors are people with background in the various subjects that are taught in schools, and the purpose of their visit is to consult with teachers to help them where there are problems in subject areas, in teaching, in methodology, and so on.”
“So we should not under-emphasize academic education but, at the same time, the other three areas which I mentioned must be given their due weightage and we do so in school not just through the formal classroom but through extra-curricular activities and through the whole school environ- ment which supports all this. If there has to be a definition of excellence in education, I would say it is a correct blending of all these four areas provided by the principals and teachers who are interested and enthusiastic in furthering this.”
“Sir, I would like to continue to answer the questions raised by the Member for Telok Blangah. He asked how can schools be more effective. What do you mean by a more effective teaching environment? I think certain concrete steps have been spelt out by the Minister yesterday in his statement. Two very important points were made. One is to make it easier for school teachers to concentrate on their teaching role by providing them with ancillary support in the way of executive officers, clerks and technicians who can then take over the more administrative and mundane chores in the school. Secondly, to work towards smaller classes with the goal that classes should not be more than 30. This, of course, requires recruitment of teachers. I think if we can carry through these two concrete measures, the teaching environment in the school will improve immensely. Then he asked a more general question about excellence in education. Sir, this is a very broad subject and I would love the opportunity to expand on it but I think we do not have the time here in Parliament. But let me just say briefly that an all-round education consists of really four major parts. (1) Academic education, (2) the development of character of students through various means including moral education, (3) to help them have an appreciation of the aesthetics, music, art and so on, and finally (4) physical education so that they are fit and develop habits of physical fitness. I think it is a blend of all these four areas. There is no doubt in our mind that the academic side of education is very important. This is what enables the student to embark on his career.”
“Sir, I do not want to prolong this discussion. I think the best lessons that students and even adults can learn about Parliament and so on is watching "Today in Parliament" as well as other programmes that have been televised. There are many channels of education. Sir, may I proceed with ---”
“Sir, based on the estimated recurrent expenditure for FY 87, the average subsidy per student per year in the non-laboratory based courses (namely, Accountancy, Business Administration, Arts and Social Sciences and Law) is $10,900. For laboratory based faculties (namely, Architecture and Building, Engineering and Science), the average subsidy per student per year is $13,300. For the Medical and Dental Faculties, the average subsidy per student per year is $37,900. FOREIGN JOURNALISTS ACCREDITED TO SINGAPORE 5. Mr Yeo Choo Kok asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) how many foreign journalists are accredited to Singapore; (b) whether they have the high standards of integrity and professionalism expected of journalists covering a foreign beat; (c) what steps the Government can take against unscrupulous foreign journalists who write biased and unbalanced reports about us; and (d) whether the Government, in future, will consider allowing only journalists with demonstrable professionalism and moral qualities to work in Singapore.”
“Sir, the subsidy for the polytechnic students refer to the full-time students. SUBSIDY FOR STUDENTS IN NUS AND NTI (Particulars) 4. Dr Ow Chin Hock asked the Minister for Education, based on recurrent expenditure and the current revised tuition fees, what will be the average subsidy per student per year in the different faculties of the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological Institute.”
“Today, something like 75% of our students successfully complete secondary education at 'N' or 'O' levels, the majority being in the 'O' levels. We should give streaming a chance to continue to bring about good results. Of course, fine-tuning is going on and over the years we have implemented various forms of fine tuning. Even today the Ministry ---”
“Sir, I would like to reply to the questions raised by the Member for Ayer Rajah and the Member for Chong Boon. With regard to the questions raised by the Member for Boon Lay on pre-primary education, I would like to collect them from more speakers for reply later because I believe there are others who would like to speak on that subject. Sir, the Member for Ayer Rajah accepted streaming because as he said he saw no better alternative and now he believes that "setting" may be an alternative. First of all, let me say that the streaming policy which has been implemented very carefully over the past seven years has yielded positive results. For example, because we are giving pupils who need more time two more years in the primary school, many more of them today are completing their PSLE successfully through the extended course. Had we not given them that time, had we adopted the previous policy, we may have lost many of them through failure. Likewise, at the secondary school, because we have given pupils who need more time one more year at the 'N' level before they have to take their GCE 'O' levels, again from the results in the last two years, many more have achieved 'O' levels than it would have been if there was no time provided for them. So the results speak for themselves. Streaming by and large has helped more pupils to go through primary school and secondary school and successfully complete their GCE 'O'levels. Just as a matter of comparison, prior to the streaming policy, the educational wastage was very high and there was reason for this policy to come into place. Not more than about 40% of our students of a cohort in those days successfully completed their secondary education.”
“I will come back to this point about what the country needs in terms of talented people in various fields. Take medicine as an example. From all the estimates and all the records, it is obvious that Singapore does not need to train hundreds and thousands of doctors every year because if you do so at the cost of nearly a quarter million dollars to train one doctor it is a very costly affair which finally the taxpayer has to pay. Therefore, it is prudent on the part of those who have to plan educational institutions and to provide the money for this purpose to make the best estimates they can of needs and to match needs with demands and with the resources available. We are not unique in this. Every country in the world, every advanced country that has to make these provisions has to make these plans and it is prudent and wise to do so. Within it, choice is available based on merit, based on aptitudes, and information is provided so that people who have to make these choices, we hope, will make realistic and good choices for themselves and for their children. Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, may I be allowed to clarify? Does the Minister not agree that a person will do best on the subject he likes? Does he not agree with that? I have known of a pupil who has got excellent grades and he was refused to go into Medicine because they say the country needs something else. We might have missed a Nobel Prize winner.”
“I would like the Member to understand that it is a system which has many opportunities at many levels, and all that must be done is to present as objectively as possible to the students who have to make these choices for their own lives, for their own future and their own careers.”
“Nobody is forced to go into any course that is run by the university or the polytechnics or VITB. Opportunities are provided --- Mr Chiam See Tong rose ---”
“No, I would not give way. I have answered his point. So this is a community service provided at very reasonable cost to the residents. And as I said, they are completely free to come and register or to go elsewhere to register. It is good service and that is why they come. Turning to another point that the Member brought up about the economy and the needs of the economy and why is it in education policy we must gear everything towards the economy. There is no doubt that the economy in the first place is what generates the wealth and income that makes it possible for all of us to enjoy a high standard of living and growing standards of education in Singapore. The economy does have its needs of various kinds of people. As I said earlier, it is a very wide range of people. Nobody is being compelled through the education system to become an engineer or to become a technician. Information is provided and people make their choices again. Mr Chiam See Tong: No. They were forced to go into ---”
“Let me elaborate on this. It is an educational service. Let us ask ourselves what is taught in the PAP kindergartens? The subject matter that is being taught is no different from that taught in the PA kindergartens run in the community centres. It is very similar to the materials being taught in private kindergartens run in churches and other organizations. They learn the basics - drawing, music, alphabets, numbers. What is he talking about political education? You must distinguish the two.”
“Sir, many kindergartens are providing this service and they are run by the People's Action Party. Let me first tell the Member for Potong Pasir that nobody is compelled to come to these kindergartens. These are kindergartens fully paid for and run to cater for the children in the neighbourhood. Not one cent is subsidized by the Government. And people are free to come to these kindergartens or to go to other kindergartens.”
“There are so many points made which are not under this Amendment that it will take a little while to sort it out. But I will deal with the points made by the Member for Potong Pasir. First, the subject of kindergartens and the ones provided by the PAP education centres. I am afraid I detect a tinge of envy on his part when he said it.”
“More women may be willing to come into the education service precisely because maternity leave is easier and they do not feel there is a conflict with being a mother of very young children and being a teacher at the same time. So we will have to see the impact of this in due course. The Member for Leng Kee touched on the career guidance and the importance of involving teachers and principals in this process. I could not agree with him more. We will certainly, in developing this programme, involve principals and teachers because they are the people who are in contact with the students day in and day out. But I would say that we can go even beyond that because schools can draw upon outside resources, employers, parents who have contributions to make to give talks in career guidance to their own school pupils. Mr Sia Khoon Seong: Mr Chairman, Sir, the Minister of State is tempting me to continue with this. But in view of the time factor and the many issues involved, I will allow him one year to think about what I have said and we will meet again next year. So in view of that, I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Chairman, two points were brought up by the Member for Leng Kee and the Member for Moulmein. I would like to deal, first, with the point brought up by the Member for Moulmein regarding relief teachers on the one hand and the need to fill up vacancies and to recruit more teachers on the other. I think the Member has somehow mixed the two issues. They are really quite separate. There is no doubt in our mind that the goal which we should work towards is to fill up vacancies in our schools, and we work towards this goal. The solution is not to try to provide more relief teachers because, by filling up vacancies, in fact, we make ourselves less dependent on relief teachers. So the goal that the Ministry has set for itself is to recruit as many qualified people as possible into the teaching service to fill up the vacancies, especially now bearing in mind that we have set ourselves even higher goals, namely, to reduce the class size and so on. We have to work towards this. And it is not going to be an easy task because we will not compromise standards of recruitment into the teaching service in the interest of the pupils and of the service. This is a process that will take a number of years. As for relief teachers, I can assure the Member that there are minimum requirements for a person to become a relief teacher in terms of his educational background and even some teaching experience that he may already have. If the Member feels that the rate being paid to relief teachers is not adequate, this is something which the Ministry can look into and, in fact, does review from time to time. But the solution, as I said, is to work towards reducing vacancies in the service. The more generous maternity leave that he pointed out may help the education service.”
“The most important is that the courses that they pursue should be relevant to the teaching service and to subjects that are being taught in schools. The second is that the teachers should have the adequate years of service as well as pre-requisites in academic grades and so on before they get bursary awards or go on to upgrading courses. The Member suggested that perhaps some kind of sabbatical leave could be provided. I think sabbatical leave is not appropriate to the teaching service. What would be more useful in the teaching service are short breaks where the teachers can go for refresher courses or in-service courses. As the Member well knows, there are many courses today available precisely for this - short courses at the IE or other institutions like the RELC and the British Council, where teachers can have a refresher in the subjects they are teaching or do an in-service course to prepare them for new subject areas. These opportunities are there. Finally, he touched on post-graduate education, that is, going beyond the first degree. The same criteria that I have mentioned earlier regarding relevance of the course as well as the teachers' own working experience and educational qualifications apply. There are small numbers who go away each year to do post-graduate courses. I will leave the subject of pre-primary education to be answered later because I think other Members also want to raise this matter.”
“In fact, we have a manpower plan for the teaching service by making allowance for teachers who will retire as well as the new teachers that have to be brought in, and this is reflected finally in the recruitment figures for the Institute of Education. So we are preparing all the time for this because this is a never-ending process. The Member for Tanah Merah talked about opportunities for teachers to improve themselves during their teaching service. I agree with him that it is important that there are opportunities for teachers, particularly to refresh themselves after teaching for a number of years. Various schemes are available at present to enable teachers to do this. Let me give him some examples of this. There are various forms of study leave for teachers to upgrade themselves. For example, there is opportunity for teachers who have only '0' levels to work for 'A' levels. Over the past seven or eight years, something like 1,200 teachers had that opportunity to work for 'A' levels and therefore improved their general education. There is also opportunity for teachers who have 'A' levels to work for degrees, and we award bursaries and scholarships to teachers for NUS courses and even abroad to get degrees. Again, over the past seven or eight years, 621 teachers successfully obtained bursaries and completed their degrees. There were also a number of teachers who were allowed to go on no-pay leave or half-pay leave to work for degrees, and this number is 365 over the past seven or eight years. So there are these opportunities. But I would like to say that there are also some criteria behind the decision to let teachers go on to improve themselves.”
“In that group, less than one in five students successfully obtained good 'A' level results and went on to the NUS, which is to say that unless you have better than 15 points your chances are less than 20%. On the other hand, the same group of students with the same 15-20 points who joined the polytechnics, after three years of study, more than 90% successfully completed their Polytechnic diploma. This again needs to be made known so that students can weigh their chances and make a realistic decision on which course they should go for. There is no doubt in my mind that we need to do more in the way of information providing and career guidance in our secondary schools, and this point has been stressed by at least two Members of Parliament. This process is already going on and we will do more. For example, reference was made to the Polytechnics and even the VITB sending people with audio-visual aids and so on to secondary schools to brief students in Secondary 4 on courses they run and, more than that, on the careers and jobs that these courses lead to. This is a move in the right direction and it provides information and allows students as well as the teachers in the schools to raise questions and to clarify many points. More of this will be done in the next few years. My belief is that when students are better informed on these matters they will make better and more realistic choices concerning their own careers. The Member for Moulmein talked about the teachers retiring in the next few years. I assure him that we are fully aware of this.”
“We need to inform our students while they are at school or at junior colleges or before they leave the secondary school what all these different types of careers and jobs are and how a person may get into them and what the opportunities are. For example, let us take graduate engineers and technicians who have a diploma from the Polytechnic. From the feedback we get from employers who employ both types of people, for every one engineer that they employ they need to employ three or four or more technicians or technologists. That is what the employers need. So it is important that in the educational institutions that prepare people for this, there should be cognizance of this fact and there should be a balance in the places available and we need to let our students know this. Another point that perhaps is not understood by many students when they make these choices, apart from the opportunities, is that unless the student has very good 'O' level results, when he does his 'A' levels the likelihood of his getting very good 'A' level results is also affected and unless he gets very good 'A' level results his chances of going to NUS would be that much less. I have asked my officers to look into the records in the last few years to see how the 'O' level results of students influence or is related to their likelihood of getting into NUS through the 'A' levels or, in the case of those who go to the Polytechnics, the likelihood that they will get a diploma at the end of their three-year study. They looked at students with 'O' level results in the range from 15 points to 20 points and that is an average group, in the middle band, so to speak, ie, 15 points to 20 points at 'O' levels based on five subjects.”
“But the reality of the situation is that not all students who do their 'A' levels go on to university. The university has been expanding but there is a limit to the number of students the University can take in based on the capacity of the faculties and based also on what the country as a whole needs in terms of various types of graduates. For example, the country needs about 200 doctors per year for replacement purposes into the medical careers and it does not make sense to expand that intake at great cost simply because a lot of people want to be doctors. The overall picture has to be taken into account by the University in relation to the country's needs. Of the students who go to junior colleges and pre-university centres to do their 'A' levels, obviously only the ones who have got very good 'A' levels have the chance to go to NUS because it is by competition. Let me just give Members the latest figures. The 1985 candidates totalled 10,260 doing 'A' levels. Admission into NUS in 1986, last year, was 4,698. That is to say the success rate was less than half, 46%. So the majority with 'A' levels go on to other streams, to work, to become teachers through the IE and to various other careers. I think this point needs to be understood by students who opt to go for 'A' level studies and that their chance is as indicated here. On the other hand, the needs of our economy today are very wide. We have people who are needed at all levels, graduates as well as large numbers of non-graduates. The job situation is complex and we need to give career guidance.”
“The Member for Moulmein also brought up this question of the overcrowding of our junior colleges and the large numbers that are now registering to come in. I want to take this opportunity to link this question with the point brought up by the Member for Leng Kee who expressed concern that students today seem not to want to join the Polytechnics to do technical courses leading to a diploma. Sir, these two issues are inter-related because the junior colleges and the pre-university centres, on the one hand, and the Polytechnics, on the other, draw from essentially the same pool of 'O' level students. I would like to provide Members with some information and background on this to see how the trend or the choice of the students affects one institution or the other. Every year, about 30,000-35,000 students complete their 'O' levels. Of course, many go on to work but many also aspire to join the pre-university centres and junior colleges to do their 'A' levels. Others want to go to the Polytechnics and yet others want to join the VITB or the EDB training centres to further their skills. In the last few years the trend has been that more and more students choose to go to the junior colleges and pre-university centres to do 'A' levels. From 1983 to 1986, the increase has been in the direction towards the 'A' level courses. In 1983, 9,500 went to the pre-university centres and junior colleges. In 1986, 13,300 went to the pre-university centres and junior colleges, an increase of 40%. This is understandable in that perhaps students' expectations have risen and they believe that by going to these institutions and doing their 'A' levels their chances of going to university will be greatly enhanced.”
“A parent spoke to me sometime ago on this very point about the lack of teachers and how she wanted to see more better qualified teachers in our schools, and I agreed with her. I asked her how many children she had. She told me she had two daughters and that they were at the upper secondary, pre-university level. I asked her that when her children finally leave school would she encourage them to become teachers. She hesitated. In other words, she was not willing to encourage her children to take up a profession which she knew was useful and important. I think there lies the root of one of our problems. People have different ambitions and expectations and the teaching profession has to compete with all other professions. Today, the teaching profession is a well-paying profession. The conditions of work are improving. As you heard from the Minister just now, steps are being taken to reduce class sizes. This will take time. Ancillary staff will be provided to make administrative chores less of a problem and allow teachers to spend more of their time in the real task of teaching. All these moves are in the right direction to make the teaching profession an even more rewarding one. Our hope is that we can get more people to come into this service. Even career counselling that was mentioned by several Members is a part of this because last year the IE wanted to take in 600 into their course. They had 4,000 applicants and they had to reject many of them because they did not have the requisite teaching subjects when they applied. They did the wrong combinations when they were at the university, for example. This is where career counselling would have helped some of them before they embarked on their courses at the university.”
“Sir, I would like to reply to the points brought up by the Member for Moulmein and the Member for Tanah Merah. Both Members touch on matters to do with teachers and the teaching service. The Member for Moulmein highlighted three points. One was that of the problem of relief teachers and what the Ministry proposes to do to reduce the dependence on relief teachers and to reduce the vacancies. I gave him an answer in a Question for Oral Answer two days ago when he raised this, and I think it is worthwhile for me to elaborate on the answer then. We have about 600 relief teachers today, and that is about one or two teachers per school. The number has been coming down as we have had more success in recent years in recruiting teachers into the teaching service. But the problem still lies with the question of how quickly we can find people who have the right qualifications and aptitudes for teaching. We would of course like to encourage as many as possible to join the teaching service but, like other services in Singapore, we are competing with many sectors for graduates and for 'A' level school leavers who could come to the teaching service. It is true that in the last two years, with recession, we have had more success in recruiting teachers. But I can assure the Member that we spare no efforts in trying to do so. We have, in fact, publicized the teaching service to students while they are at junior colleges to let them know what the teaching service is about so that, when they leave or when they go to university, this is one option they can keep in mind. I just would like to bring a personal experience to illustrate this problem.”
“Of the five schools, Raffles Institution is the only school that has made some study and proposals on becoming an autonomous school. PRIMARY SCHOOL IN GEYLANG SERAI CONSTITUENCY 4. Encik Othman bin Haron Eusofe asked the Minister for Education whether and when a primary school will be built in the Geylang Serai Constituency.”
“I suggest that he wait until Thursday or Friday when the Minister for Education will make his statement on these matters. MRT FARE STRUCTURES 5. Mr Teo Chong Tee asked the Minister for Communications and Information whether the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation, in determining the fare structures, will consider (i) a one-fare sytem which will allow interchangeability in the mode of travel from bus to MRT train or vice versa to destination at fares affordable to commuters and (ii) concessional fares for senior citizens and the underprivileged.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, a number of things were raised in discussions with principals and parents at the recent forums conducted by the Minister for Education. I think the Member for Potong Pasir should wait until the Minister has the opportunity to tell the House the response of the Ministry to the various points, including class sizes.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in January 1986 a pilot project was initiated in 20 schools to study in detail how the Single Session System could benefit the pupils and the operational difficulties that might be encountered. The results of the pilot project were reported in the Schools Council Meeting on 10 January this year. It is clear that the single session system will result in major benefits for schools, such as more time and opportunity for remedial work, ECA and other things. The Ministry has therefore decided to implement the single session in all schools beginning with the secondary schools. The implementation of the single session system will be done in phases.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we are doing all we can. SINGLE SESSION SCHOOLS (Progress of implementation) 4. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Minister for Education what progress has been made so far in the implementation of single session schools for secondary education.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I agree with the Member for Punggol that as a result of a higher standard of school buildings, in the past few years the cost of school buildings has gone up and, indeed, we have made this case to the Ministry of Finance in support of our proposal. I suggest to the Member for Punggol that he might want to raise this question with the Minister for Finance at the next occasion.”