PRIVATE SCHOOL EDUCATION

PRIVATE SCHOOL EDUCATION:

(Measures to tighten governance): 14.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Education what immediate measures will the Ministry put in place to protect students from poor governance and standards and loss of fees pending the introduction of the Private Education Bill later this year.

15.

Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta asked the Minister for Education (a) when the academic quality accreditation scheme for private schools/universities will take effect; (b) what new strategies the Ministry has to effectively address the problem of bogus teachers in the private school industry; and (c) whether the Ministry intends to do a comprehensive inter-ministerial review of the current state of private schools in Singapore.

The Minister for Education (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mr Speaker, can I have your permission to take Question Nos. 14 and 15 together, please?

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Mr Speaker: Yes.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Mr Speaker, a Private Education (PE) Bill will be moved in the second half of this year to provide powers to better regulate the private education sector and the set up of the Council for Private Education (CPE). Once this PE Bill is passed, the CPE comprising members from the fields of education, quality assurance and business will implement the enhanced registration regime and the voluntary quality assurance scheme, called EduTrust. The CPE expects the first Private Education Institutions (PEIs) to be registered under the enhanced framework by the end of this year after the Bill is passed, and with all eligible institutions to be registered within an 18-month timeframe from then. The first PEIs to undergo EduTrust certification can be expected around the first quarter of 2010.

Besides regulation, the CPE will also take on roles of developing the private education industry, including fostering greater industry stewardship and consumer education. This will be a holistic approach to uplift the overall quality of private education players.

Prof. Mehta asked about inter-Ministry approach and, indeed, that is the approach that we are taking because we recognise that this private education sector requires a whole-of-government response. So the CPE will be working closely with various stakeholder agencies such as Economic Development Board (EDB), SPRING Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and other inter-agency collaborations. The basic aim is to improve the quality of our private education institutions as well as to promote consumer education. We have senior representatives from EDB, SPRING Singapore and STB appointed to this Council and this will further facilitate collaborations.

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As part of the registration process in transiting to the new regulatory regime, PEIs would be required to submit and disclose key information concerning their courses, teaching staff, student enrolment, facilities and other business operations. The data submitted by them will also serve as a useful update on the local private education sector which the Council will use in its planning, review and oversight activities, with respective stakeholders.

Prof. Mehta also asked and expressed concern about bogus teachers in these institutions. The new regime will tackle this issue in three ways.

Firstly, we will stipulate the requirements for a teacher to possess educational qualifications generally of at least one level above the programme he or she will be teaching. So if you are teaching a diploma, you ought to have a degree. In addition, PEIs must ensure that the teachers' degree qualifications are authentic and recognised by education authorities in their home countries. Officers of the CPE will follow up with compliance checks when they perform on-site inspections as part of their regular enforcement regime.

Secondly, should investigations uncover instances of teachers who do not meet the stipulated requirements, the Council would be able to direct the institutions to cease the deployment of teachers who do not meet the stipulated qualifications. And if it is found that false information has been furnished or material fact has been deliberately withheld, the institutions will also be guilty of an offence under the new regime.

Thirdly, PEIs who apply for EduTrust certification would also be assessed on how their academic staff are recruited, deployed and monitored to ensure teaching quality. Students who want to be more certain of the quality of the

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teaching and overall standards of the PEI can rely on EduTrust as a mark of assurance.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked what interim measures we could take to protect students in the lead up to this new legislation. In the interim prior to the introduction of this new legislation, the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) (which administers the "CaseTrust for Education" certification) is stepping up checks to ensure that certified PEIs remain compliant with CaseTrust's requirements in student fee protection and welfare, to ensure that the interests of students remain safeguarded during this economically difficult period.

The new regulatory regime represents a substantive change and adjustment for the private education sector. The Council is currently engaging various stakeholders on the proposed regime through a public consultation exercise, which is open till 6th May. I strongly urge various stakeholders to weigh in, and if there are good ideas or views on how the private education sector here can be improved, these ideas will be incorporated.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Sir, may I ask the Minister, is there any recourse for affected students to address their grouses before the introduction of the Private Education Bill, as CASE has not been satisfactory in addressing these grouses?

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Mr Speaker, I think CASE has made improvements but it is presumptuous for me to speak on behalf of CASE because CASE is not under my Ministry. If that is Dr Neo's assertion, perhaps a separate question would suffice.

In terms of what they can do, I think there is specific recourse set under the present regime. But let me say on an overall scale, we can improve things and this is the reason why we want to

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introduce a new legislation. I think we all recognise that we have allowed the private educational sector to grow over the last few years and there is a balance between very tight regulation and growth. We recognise that perhaps it is time now to introduce this legislation to tighten the regulations and the enforcement. So, I think that is the basis, moving forward.

Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, two supplementary questions, please.

On hindsight, would the Minister agree that the Private Education Bill could have been put up four or five years ago when Singapore was being moulded to become an education hub?

Second question, may I ask the Minister why private schools were not included in the regulatory framework of MOE from the beginning since prevention is better than cure?

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Mr Speaker, on hindsight, I could have said many things but I think that is not the point. I think we want to strengthen the regulation.

Let me answer the second question first as to why it was not included. It was included under the general Act but I would say that that enforcement was very light-touch. As I said in reply to Mdm Halimah Yacob's question, there is a balance in reality between regulation and growth. And I think that from what we have assessed, we would like to tighten regulation and that is indeed what we are doing.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Sir, in Singapore's aspiration to be an education hub, can I ask the Minister to clarify what are the success indicators by which the private education sector is measured? For example, would they include the number

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of foreign clients who are being let down or not let down, or maybe the number of satisfied clients in this sector?

My second question is who owns the vision or this aspiration of Singapore as a private education hub? Is it MOE, EDB or SPRING? I think when everyone is in charge, then nobody is really accountable or no one might feel accountable.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Mr Speaker, in direct response to that question, the Bill will be tabled by my Ministry, so my Ministry is in charge. But let me also give some perspective. Even with the new regulation, there will still be that balance between regulation and growth. If you really wanted to have a very tight regulatory regime, you would say, well, let us close down 75% of schools in Singapore. Number one, I do not think that is well served. Number two, it is a dynamic process. So when you want to be a globalised city and you allow providers from many countries to come in, we ought to be honest and say that we may not be able to keep tabs with all the developments in the home countries from which these providers sometimes come from or are affiliated with.

So the Council's stance will be that. Yes, it will have enforcement powers. Yes, it will have powers to help students seek redress, mete out punishment or exact penalties. But a lot of its work is also asking these private education institutions to mandate them to provide information. So there must be some form of self-regulation, there must be some onus on students to check on their own, and we will provide the information.

That is the framework that we are looking at. And I would say that it will require the efforts of all stakeholders. But I take Ms Denise Phua's point. It is important for Singapore to maintain its reputation as a quality educational hub. In that sense, we all have ownership of that.

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Mr Speaker: Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, last question.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang (Aljunied): Sir, may I ask whether the Minister is aware that the CaseTrust Scheme is only aimed at protecting the students as consumers. In the case of any dispute with the school, we have the Student Protection Scheme to help the students recover the fees they paid. But with the recent incidents, you can see that the insurance scheme is still problematic because the school defaulted on the payment of the insurance scheme or did not even buy the insurance for the students. So, I would like to ask the Minister, moving forward, with the new EduTrust, would it have new measures to address this concern.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Sir, let me thank Mr Yeo Guat Kwang for making the clarifications for CASE. We are indeed learning from CaseTrust as we transit to EduTrust. But, again, let me state the qualification. I do not think it is to anyone's interest if we say that this new Bill will give 100% protection. I think it will strengthen it. We will learn along the way, and we will see where we can balance it. But it is a step up compared to what we have today, and I take that it is better organised. That is why the Council will also have representatives from the business sector as well as educational providers who know the environment in which educational providers operate.

I would seek Members' indulgence and also your cooperation in giving your views to the open consultation process that is currently going on.