HEAD K - MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Head K - Ministry of Education (cont.)

Resumption of Debate on Question [10th February, 2009],

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"That the total sum to be allocated for Head K of the Estimates be reduced by $100." - [Dr Lily Neo].

Question again proposed.

Financial Assistance

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Marine Parade): Sir, I am told that there is an increase of between 10%-20% of students needing financial assistance. This is in line with the rising number of people seeking financial assistance during MPS. I am glad that MOE has announced and is responding to this exceptionally difficult time with a bigger budget for needy students. I hope that this increase is not just giving a bigger quantum for the students already on financial aid. Many students are facing financial difficulties when their parents suddenly lost their jobs. MOE needs to be mindful that more students need help and not just boosting the amount of those already receiving help.

In this difficult time, families who were doing well before this, because of their commitments, may also be in financial hardship. I expect that many more students will be in such a situation as the economy worsens. I urge MOE to give them more help to tide over this difficult period. I also wonder whether our universities will be cutting or at least freeze the tuition fee, including an automatic cohort-based annual fee increase.

Financial Assistance for Needy Students

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan): Sir, Budget 2009 has announced that MOE will enhance its financial assistance schemes for students and introduce a Short-Term Study Assistance Scheme (SSAS) for students in ITEs, polytechnics

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and autonomous universities. This is timely and greatly needed.

0n the ground, we are already seeing more residents coming to apply for our CCC and CDC bursaries and scholarships for students from schools and tertiary institutions. This is on top of the Edusave bursaries and scholarships given by MOE and the CCCs. I am also seeing more financially strapped residents coming to appeal for waiver of school fees, free textbooks, school uniforms and school pocket money and even for paying the GCE "O" and "A" level examination fees.

Sir, I note that there are two avenues of financial assistance provided by the schools, namely, the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and various school-based financial assistance schemes. The latter can be extended to students who do not meet the qualifying criteria for MOE's FAS as well as to those already on the FAS but need more help.

Despite the availability of these schemes at the school level, I still see a sizable number of families appealing for financial assistance for their children at my MPS. Sir, I infer from this that the current economic downturn is stretching resources allocated by the MOE and the schools to assist every student who genuinely needs financial help. Hence, the announcement that more money would be pumped in to help poor students is welcome. Nonetheless, Sir, I would like to ask the Ministry how it determines the size of the budget to be allocated for providing financial assistance to needy students to ensure that no student is deprived of at least a basic education. With the recession expected to deepen further, even the more than the doubling of the budget now for financial aid programmes may prove inadequate.

At the same time, under the Government's many-helping-hands philosophy, besides MOE and the schools,

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there are many other organisations, including the CDCs, grassroots organisations and self-help groups, that provide various forms of financial assistance to students at different levels. Each of them, however, has different income qualifying and other criteria for their respective financial assistance schemes.

Currently, there is no designated central agency to act as coordinator for the many help agencies to ensure that every student who needs assistance is identified and adequately helped. Some may get proportionately more help than others, whilst others could fall through the cracks. Because of a fixed pool of funds, whatever the source, collectively speaking, all agencies will need to administer the funds more smartly to ensure "more bank for the buck". I would like to ask MOE to look into how it can ensure that every student who needs assistance is helped holistically, using all available funding sources based on the many-helping-hands approach.

For a start, as the schools would be better placed to identify needy students and assess their needs, they should act as the central coordinating body to identify and channel assistance. I would therefore like to suggest that the schools themselves undertake to ensure that every child who needs assistance receives help. If the school is unable to provide the assistance because it has already expended its resources and the students need additional help, then the school could refer the students to other agencies including the CDCs, grassroots organisations, self-help groups, etc, in the interim, so that no one who needs help is left in the lurch. This, in essence, is the many-helping-hands approach, but it has to be effectively operationalised.

Financial Assistance for All Levels (Primary, Seconday, Tertiary)

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Marine Parade): Sir, at yesterday's sitting, the Minister spelt out the additional financial

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assistance for needy students at tertiary institutions and schools during this economic crisis. I would like to ask the Minister for further details on how MOE intends to reach out and support families of needy students, so as not to compromise education in times of this economic crisis.

Sir, among other institutions, schools and tertiary institutions present a good avenue for us to detect and tackle social problems, such as dysfunctional families and the need for financial assistance for the students. Does the MOE have a holistic approach in identifying and assisting students and their family members with social problems and thus need financial assistance at times?

As the economic crisis deepens, MOE needs to ensure that no one is deprived of educational opportunities at all levels due to financial difficulties. On this note, I would like to ask the Minister, on average, how many students are under the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) in each school and tertiary institutions? How many counsellors does each school and tertiary institutions have? How do the tertiary institutions cater to the counselling needs of the students? Is this adequate? And, as the economic crisis deepens, are there plans to increase the number of counsellors in each school?

Students from Low Socio-economic Status Background

Mr Siew Kum Hong (Nominated Member): Sir, this is not the speech I expected to make for my cut. I was planning to stand here yesterday and speak about the plight of students from low socio-economic status families and ask the Minister to expand the scope of MOE's Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and to fund discretionary assistance to be administered by each school. So, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear the Minister's announcements yesterday

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about the expansion of FAS and the one-off grants to schools for discretionary assistance. I commend and applaud the Ministry for taking these steps, which will provide critical comfort and assurance in these difficult times. I do have four points to make.

Firstly, I ask the Ministry to reconsider the eligibility criteria for FAS. It should ideally adopt a criteria based on per capita household income. The current criteria do not differentiate between a family with three children, and a family with six children and two elderly retired parents. The criteria should be more closely tied to the number of dependants. While we may question the wisdom of low-income families having large families, we should not penalise the children for the errors of their parents.

Secondly, I hope the Minister can clarify whether the expansion of FAS to cover school attire includes socks and shoes. I have heard of a boy with worn-out shoes, whose insoles wore out after six months, and then he had to step on the metal wire-frames inside the soles for the rest of the year. Similarly, many children wear worn-out socks, which sounds trivial, but their joy when they get new socks speaks volumes of how much it means to them. I also hope that FAS can be expanded to cover supplementary books, which are not official textbooks but are required by teachers for lessons.

My other two points relate to the one-off grants to schools for discretionary assistance, which is intended to mitigate fund-raising difficulties in this recession. All schools will receive the funds, regardless of the size of their reserves, if any. But some schools, in particular, the richer brand-name schools with strong alumni networks, probably would not need this top-up. Others may not have much in the way of existing funds at all. I

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therefore urge the Minister to give proportionately more money to schools with little or no existing funds for discretionary assistance, with greater weightage for those schools with disproportionately many low socio-economic status students, whether or not they are on FAS.

My final point is to ask the Minister to make this grant a recurrent one, and not a one-off. Neighbourhood schools would tend to have a greater need for discretionary assistance, but they also face greater challenges in fund-raising. More importantly, I believe that schools and teachers should be focused on teaching and helping students, and not so much on fund-raising, except to the extent that fund-raising is for student development purposes.

Sir, needy students pre-date the recession. Their problems were here before the downturn, and their problems will continue to be here after the recovery. The discretionary assistance disbursed by schools plays an important role. Just as the CCC ComCare Fund is administered by grassroots organisations, it makes sense for schools to administer assistance funds directly, since they would be best-placed to identify their students' day-to-day needs. We should therefore ensure that schools will always have sufficient discretionary funds, and we should provide grants, where necessary, regardless of the prevailing economic conditions.

Education, as the means to social mobility, is the cornerstone of Singapore's social compact. We promise equality of opportunity to all our children. We tell them to work hard and do well in school, so that they will be well-placed to succeed in life, regardless of their background.

But for low socio-economic status children, the correlation between their

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effort and their results is less straightforward, due to the many challenges that they face. Of course, some exceptional students have overcome their circumstances, but they are rare. These are the exceptions. The vast majority face daily barriers and hurdles to success arising from their circumstances.

Perhaps most of these problems stem from wider societal and community issues and problems, that cannot be resolved by the Government alone. Some are even due to parents not having the right priorities. But we can, and we must, solve those problems that we can solve, so as to maximise our children's chances of success and to help them to achieve their maximum potential. To that end, I hope the Minister would provide annual grants to schools' discretionary assistance funds of a smaller size, if need be.

Cost of Textbooks

Mr Wee Siew Kim (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, I have heard from many affected parents that constant revisions and updates to the curriculum have resulted in textbooks being obsoleted within a span of a few short years. Siblings are no longer assured of using hand-me-down books. Even families on the look out for second-hand textbooks are no longer able to rely on them to defray costs. Yes, there are schemes in schools that address the needs of poorer students but they do not address the sense of waste that some parents have noticed.

Can I suggest that the Ministry look into this phenomenon which parents have brought up and see if it is possible to highlight changes from edition to edition, or print supplementals or inserts to bring older editions up to date rather than having to resort to new books? In one instance, one distraught parent said that she combed through two editions of a textbook and came up with only very minor differences. And students would be

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left with no choice if teachers insisted on the newer editions. In a simpler age, when I was going through school, I do not recall such a wide variety of textbooks. Many schools in those days seemed to use common textbooks. Maybe we are enriched by the diversity and richness of choice we have today. But if we can coordinate better, and more schools use the same textbooks, then second-hand books for students would be a more viable option. Maybe in the not too distant future, when we go paperless and completely digital, this concern would disappear. But for now, something needs to be done. And in so doing, we also do a little bit for the environment.

Dropouts

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Sir, MOE has done well in reducing our school dropout rate to 1.6% as of last year. The setting up of Northlight School and, more recently, Assumption Pathway School, and relaxing the re-admission criteria for school dropouts, are among the key measures that have undoubtedly helped to reduce the number of such dropouts.

Notwithstanding this, it is noted that the largest number of school dropouts come, in fact, from secondary schools. They number about 400 per year and make up more than 60% of the total number of dropouts each year.

I have met a few such dropouts at my MPS. By the time the families come to the MPS to appeal for financial and other assistance, the teenage child might have already dropped out of school for a year or more. These children often come from dysfunctional families and may be disinterested in studies not for lack of academic ability, but due to a lack of family support and financial difficulties faced by the family.

I understand that many schools now have programmes to identify, counsel and

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help potential school dropouts as well as try to persuade those who drop out to go back to school. Nonetheless, I feel that such efforts to reach out and help dropouts and get them to go back to school could be further enhanced if the school could also get the community involved. I would like to recommend that the school counsellors or the principals refer appropriate cases to grassroots organisations and perhaps even the Member of Parliament for the area.

To begin with, we may be able to offer some financial help to the family if this is one of the root causes. The grassroots might also be familiar with the parents and are in a better position to persuade them to take an interest in the child's education and welfare. No doubt, this approach is resource-intensive, but I think it is worth the price if one more child can be helped and his or her future better safeguarded.

12.15 pm

The Chairman: Mrs Teo, you have two cuts. Please take them together.

Keeping Youths in Education

Mrs Josephine Teo (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Sir, in China this year, six million new graduates will join the workforce. Together with the 1.5 million graduates from last year's batch who are still unemployed, there are a whopping 7.5 million graduates looking for jobs in China this year. This prompted the China Youth League to ask what strategies Singapore used to find employment for Singapore youths. The question was directed to me. As I reflected on it, I offered a view of what, I believe, have been our strategies.

The first strategy is to keep youths in school. Our system channels them by aptitude to relevant institutions and

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makes use of their years in education to prepare them to be job-ready. The second strategy is to incorporate industry input in course curriculum. Many academic departments or faculties have industry advisory councils. This helps to ensure that fresh graduates have business-relevant skills. The third strategy is to tap the Continuing Education and Training (CET) framework to keep the skills of youths current. From 2000-2008, about 20% of workers retrenched in the unionised sector were under 30 years old. Youths are not immune to job losses and the solution is to continue to up-skill and re-skill them.

Sir, the CET framework that we have put in place will be helpful in reducing youth unemployment. In the event of a downturn, a fourth strategy has been used. Government agencies like EDB and A*STAR, have programmes to help foot the salaries of fresh or recent graduates employed in industries of strategic importance to Singapore, but which are temporarily not hiring.

Let me return to the fundamental strategy, ie, keeping youths in education. As of 2008, only 1.6% of students in each cohort do not complete a full 10 years of formal education. Compare this to the US. Depending on whether the academic studying the phenomenon is pessimistic or extremely pessimistic, the world's largest economy faces a daunting 9.8% to 25% dropout rate. This is often cited as a reason for the high youth unemployment rate in the US, which for 2008 hit an all time high of 14%. This stands in contrast to our own youth unemployment rate of 4.1%.

Though our school dropout and youth unemployment rates are low, participation in education after the first 10 years of education could be better. In the 2007 edition of Statistics Singapore , it is reported that in 2005, 63.2% of our youths aged 16-17 were enrolled in post-

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secondary education, either in pre-university courses or ITEs. From past years' figures, vast majority of these students then progressed to tertiary education in polytechnics and universities. Sir, I would like to know what is the number of youths who do not progress to post-secondary education in the first place? Given their lower educational attainment, it it likely that this group contributes to the 17,000 jobless Singaporeans under the age of 30. They are also likely to fall in and out of unemployment continuously.

I thank the Minister who had earlier announced the additional financial assistance to enrolled students. This will ensure that youths in our ITEs, polytechnics and universities can remain in education, even if their families fall into financial difficulties. At the same time, I would like to ask MOE if there are ways to further improve the rate of participation of youths in post-secondary education. 10 years of education is good but insufficient in today's competitive labour market. The mean years of schooling among youths in Singapore has also stagnated. While in the early 1990s, we witnessed an increase from 9.3 years to 11.5 years, the mean years of schooling has remained at about 12 years since 2003. While we have done very well to build up our educational institutions, do we have a concerted effort to keep these youths in post-secondary education so that their life-long prospects are improved?

Pre-school Education

Sir, my second cut is on pre-school education. We have a world-class system for primary, secondary and tertiary-level education. Even our technical education system has won international accolades. May I ask the MOE if we can say the same for early childhood or pre-school education in Singapore?

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Last year, related to pre-school education, I spoke on the need for quality assurance of early childhood education providers and the need to keep fees as affordable as for primary school education. This year, I renew my call to the MOE to place priority on improving quality of pre-school education. Specifically, I would like to suggest that the Ministry look into the following areas.

First, on attracting and developing talents for early childhood education, one significant change announced last year was the raising of minimum qualifications of pre-school teachers. While I applaud the effort, I cannot help but notice the vast difference in the scale and depth of efforts when compared to investments in a quality teaching force for primary schools. The PERI Committee has raised the bar even higher through more stringent recruitment, budget for additional manpower, introducing allied educators, training of more PE, art and music teachers. When can we do the same for early childhood education? Raising minimum qualifications is one step. What about the training, career development and salary progression pathways of early childhood educators? Which agency is the NIE-equivalent for early childhood education? Can we create a Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) framework for their continuous professional upgrading?

The Government has announced plans to open many more new childcare centres. Yet, we are facing great shortages in the numbers of early childhood educators. Can we attract good people to the sector by looking into these factors? MOE's advertisements to attract talents to the teaching profession do not include early childhood educators. Individual schools would not have the means to mount such a strong campaign to attract teachers. Neither could kindergartens or childcare centres on their own. Could MOE coordinate a campaign

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for all early childhood education providers, much like STB has done to promote tourism careers on behalf of all tourism businesses, and MOH has done for the nursing profession?

Sir, the second point is on going into education centre accreditation. For primary and secondary schools, there is a curriculum to be covered, and schools today are given much more flexibility in deciding how to cover the curriculum. However, quality is assured by the MOE. For early childhood education, how does a parent know whether the child is getting a quality early childhood education? The intent is not to have tests, eg, PSLE to assess if the children have "passed" or "failed", nor should we impose rigid timetables or requirements on preschool educators. But, surely, there must be a way for parents to know whether the centre they send their children to "pass" or "fail". We can get no such information today. This is not satisfactory.

As I said last year, we need a way for parents to be able to ascertain if the early childhood educator is meeting some minimum standards of quality in education. Who maintains the standards and accredits the providers so that we have quality assurance? I urge the MOE to coordinate efforts to level-up standards in early childhood education holistically, systematically and urgently.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Mr Chairman, the importance of pre-school education cannot be further underscored. Although MOE has an explicit policy that compulsory education is only at the primary school level, its efforts at supporting the pre-school education over the last few years is laudable. However, I would like to ask the Minister the extent to which MOE oversees the development

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of the pre-school sector, both in terms of curriculum as well as human resource development.

First, on curriculum development and outcome indicators. I understand that MOE issues licences to pre-school operators. In this regard, I would like to ask the Minister what are the conditions for the issuance and renewal of licences to pre-school operators. What are the processes and outcome indicators that MOE places for these operators? Has MOE revoked licences of pre-school operators who fail to meet MOE's licensing conditions? How does MOE ensure that the pre-school is in line with the primary school learning objectives? Much has been said about giving our children a headstart through pre-school education. This means ensuring that the pre-school education facilitates the transition and emersion into primary school. With the new initiatives proposed by the PERI Committee, how will the pre-school sector fit into the system, ensuring the seamless continuum of educational experience for our children?

Next, human resource development. Sir, one of the challenges in the pre-school sector is human resources. The need for quality and trained personnel is critical. With the growing emphasis on giving good foundation at the pre-school level, how does MOE plan to increase the quality and quantity of the pre-school teachers? With the current economic recession, much has been said about the PMETs and alternative careers for them. Are there plans for MOE to facilitate the conversion of mid-career PMETs to come into this sector? What incentives, if any, are being put in place?

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M): Sir, several MPs were concerned about how students from lower-income families would be able to cope with education expenses in the

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economic downturn. General education is almost fully subsidised by the Government. Beyond this, MOE has been providing assistance to students from lower-income families who might not be able to afford the subsidised fees and other related expenses. In the light of the current economic recession and feedback from schools, we have further reviewed our financial assistance programme and will enhance the benefits to provide even more help to needy students.

For primary and secondary school recipients under the MOE's Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), in addition to free textbooks, MOE will now also provide a basic package of school attire every year that will include new sets of school uniforms and PE attire. The enhanced benefits will save parents an additional $130 a year for primary school pupils, and $160 for secondary school students. Families with more than one child in school will find that these are significant savings to their family expenditures. For pre-university students, MOE will be increasing the bursary quantum for FAS recipients by 50%, from the current $500 to $750, to help them pay for textbooks and other essential items for their studies. These enhancements to the FAS are expected to cost MOE $7.3 million per year, increasing the total FAS budget by 68%, to $18 million annually.

We understand that some families could be temporarily caught out by the financial crisis because of unemployment or retrenchment, as mentioned by Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim. We are monitoring the situation closely. As at end January this year, there was a 6% increase in the number of FAS recipients compared to the corresponding period last year. I wish to assure MPs that those in need can apply for the MOE's FAS at any time and help will be rendered promptly.

To address the points made by Mr Christopher de Souza and Mr Siew Kum

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Hong, MOE will be spending $5.4 million to support school-based financial assistance schemes, as announced by Minister yesterday. Schools have the flexibility to decide on the eligibility criteria and the type of assistance to cater to the specific needs of students more effectively. With some items like uniforms now covered under the enhancements to the MOE's FAS benefits, schools can provide more discretionary assistance to their students, eg, meal and transport allowances, or even, as suggested by Mr Siew Kum Hong, supplementary books. MOE is already giving more to schools and although it is one time, whether or not it is recurrent, we will review it as we look at how we spend on the ground and listen to feedback, and we will respond.

Apart from the MOE's FAS and school-based financial assistance schemes, schools are also able to use their Opportunity Fund at their discretion to help provide students from lower-income families with school-based enrichment opportunities. Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim had asked about the processes we have in place to identify and help students in need. Schools use various channels, like newsletters and announcements at assemblies, to inform parents and students about the availability of financial assistance. Teachers also keep a look out for students in need, especially those who are in fee arrears. Our schools adopt a whole-school support framework, whereby various resource personnel, including teachers and counsellors, are involved to support students in need. Going forward, schools with higher needs in this area will be provided with an additional Allied Educator and Operations Manager (OM) over the next few years. At our tertiary institutions, there are dedicated student financing officers to advise students on the financial assistance options available. Currently, around one-third of local students in our universities benefit from financial assistance.

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MOE already provides sufficiently for students at all levels to achieve their educational goals in schools. Beyond MOE's assistance, the community plays an important and useful role in providing social support in other areas, to help children and their families. To Ms Irene Ng's point made earlier in the Budget debate, self-help groups do play a key role in supplementing the Government's existing efforts in helping needy families. Each group may appear to be helping their members in different ways and to different extents, but we should leave it to them to decide how they want to help their community, as they know best the specific needs of their community and are better able to reach out and connect with them because of language and cultural commonalities.

Dr Amy Khor had asked if there could be better co-ordination on the use of the different funding sources to provide financial assistance to students. Schools will continue to provide the first line of support to these students but, in some instances, they will also refer cases to community organisations, like Family Service Centres (FSCs) or Community Development Councils (CDCs) for further assistance.

These organisations would be in a better position to coordinate with other relevant agencies to reach out not just to the students, but also their families. My colleagues at MCYS will give more details on what is being done at the community level to support needy families and children through their coordination with schools.

12.30 pm

I wish to assure MPs that MOE will continue to review our support structures in place, to ensure that every child receives the necessary support and no student will be forced to drop out of

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school because of financial constraints, especially during the downturn.

Dr Amy Khor and Mrs Josephine Teo talked about the importance of keeping our youths in schools. Indeed, this has been one of MOE’s key priorities over the years. I am happy to share that MOE has met the attrition target of 1.5% in 2008, a target set earlier by PM Lee, two years ahead of schedule. Therefore, about 99% of our students are in good stead to pursue a post-secondary education. 10 years of education is important because it allows time to build character and a sense of belonging to community and nation.

In April this year, MOE will roll out a system so that schools can better identify and monitor at-risk students as they move from class to class, and from school to school. Teachers can also get a better documentation of the profile of at-risk students, so that they can follow up in addressing the students’ learning and counselling needs consistently.

Schools have also started various ground-up initiatives to guide and support at-risk students with disciplinary, behavioural and academic problems. Last year, I mentioned the Time-out Programme, which has been effective in reducing the dropout rate among the at-risk students. More schools are now organising such programmes for their at-risk students compared to last year.

I agree with Mrs Josephine Teo that in a knowledge-based economy, our students should go beyond the first 10 years of general education and obtain useful post-secondary qualifications that will help them find gainful employment. Today, 93% of our students already progress to some form of post-secondary institutions. MOE has been enhancing the progression pathways for students to progress to ITE and the polytechnics. ITE has also been beefing up their counselling and support services, and strengthening

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their collaborations with VWOs to provide further support to students. The various financial assistance schemes we already have in place, as well as the new enhancements announced by Minister, will provide the necessary help to students with financial difficulties so that they can focus on their studies.

I also fully agree with Dr Amy Khor that reducing the number of dropouts is not something that schools can do alone. For students who choose to leave school despite all measures by schools to persuade them to stay on, all schools will refer these cases to VWOs, so that school leavers have support. Youth Link is one such example where MCYS organises social workers to work with the Out-of-School Youths for one year to provide the necessary guidance and support, and to get them to come back to school. I encourage grassroots organisations who wish to help these youths to contact the schools, to see how best they can complement the schools’ efforts and work with the professionals and social workers to help these dropouts as the problem is not always financial.

Before I move to the topic of pre-school education, I wanted to address Mr Wee Siew Kim’s concerns on textbook wastage following changes to the syllabus. Syllabuses for all subjects are reviewed regularly every six years. When the content is found to be dated and when the syllabus does not support key competencies we want to develop in our students sufficiently, it is important that we update the contents and textbooks accordingly. Where changes arising from the syllabus review are minor, MOE works with the publishers to ensure that the existing textbooks can continue to be used, by having the changes communicated to schools. We welcome feedback from Members when this is not actually being followed. Students who require financial assistance can apply to the MOE FAS or the school-based

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financial assistance to buy the new textbooks.

Let me now turn to pre-school education, an issue which was raised by Mrs Josephine Teo and Dr Maliki.

MOE’s desired outcome for the pre-school sector is for all children to have access to quality pre-school education, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, so that we can better prepare them for school. Currently, the community and private sector provide a range of offerings to meet the needs of different parents, while MOE focuses our efforts to uplift standards through key leverage areas, especially teacher quality and curriculum.

Last year, we announced the new industry standard for teachers teaching K1 and K2 to have 5 ‘O’ Level passes, including a pass in English, and Diploma-level qualifications by 2013. We are on track in meeting these targets. In 2008, about 1,540 teachers attended the Diploma in Early Childhood Care & Education-Teaching course, an increase of 30% over the previous year.

Today, about 40% of the kindergartens have already fulfilled the requirement of having 75% of their teachers meeting the new minimum qualifications. To encourage kindergarten teachers to take on professional upgrading, MOE will also be providing $4 million worth of bursaries and scholarships each year for kindergarten teachers to pursue full-time and part-time diploma courses as well as the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) programme conducted by NIE.

To raise awareness about jobs in the kindergarten sector, MOE will facilitate recruitment efforts by providing relevant information about various platforms such as career fairs and Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) websites.

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Our polytechnics will also offer more training places in early childhood education. Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic will each start a new full-time diploma course for students who are interested in early childhood education. Temasek Polytechnic will also be starting a new part-time training course for existing pre-school teachers. Altogether, our polytechnics will offer 250 places for full-time studies and 420 places for part-time studies.

As announced by the Minister earlier, the new Advanced Diploma in Kindergarten Education-Teaching (ADKET) will offer up to 100 training places this year for mid-career professionals and fresh graduates or diploma holders to become kindergarten teachers. While the programme is shorter, the rigour and quality of training will be maintained, with a focus on curriculum and teaching methods, so that trainees will be equipped with the necessary competencies to teach young children effectively at kindergartens.

The ADKET course fees will be subsidised under the enhanced Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR). During the period of training, kindergartens will receive a monthly stipend support of up to $1,000 per trainee. MOE is working with the WDA to explore the feasibility of including the ADKET course into the Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) framework.

To encourage continual upgrading for kindergarten teachers, as asked by Mrs Josephine Teo, MOE has developed a Professional Development Framework to help kindergartens identify training needs and prioritise areas for the professional development of their staff. MOE also organises in-service training workshops for kindergarten teachers, to increase their knowledge and skills in areas such as

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pedagogy, and leadership and management skills.

In the area of curriculum, MOE developed a Kindergarten Curriculum Guide last November to help teachers in developing appropriate curriculum and assessment to support and promote children’s holistic learning and development in the early years. I assure Mrs Josephine Teo and Dr Maliki that these are aligned to the Desired Outcomes of Primary Education.

MOE has also provided grants to non-profit kindergartens to enable them to build up their teaching and learning resources, such as musical instruments, outdoor play equipment, and IT and multimedia equipment. Last year, over 90% of the 380 non-profit kindergartens benefited from this funding support amounting to a total sum of $3.2 million. In addition, 51 kindergartens received the Kindergarten Innovation Grant of up to $5,000 each, to help them engage in innovative practices that will enhance the quality of teaching and learning for their students.

PCF Macpherson, for example, used the grant to start a mini-history project about the Macpherson area. Children went around the neighbourhood, armed with digital cameras and video cameras, to take photographs and conduct interviews with residents. I hear that they even interviewed their MP, Mr Matthias Yao. Through the project, the children developed a better appreciation about the history of the Macpherson area, and also developed their level of self-efficacy in the process.

PPIS Kindergarten used the grant to purchase digital cameras and video cameras for teachers to capture the children in action. Teacher and children then update their curriculum activities on a blog. This allows their work and progress to be archived more effectively,

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and parents are also updated through E-newsletters, which allows faster two-way communication between teachers and parents.

St James’ Church Kindergarten used the fund to transform their outdoor area into an eco-farming learning environment, including the planting of fruit trees and rearing of fish and rabbits. They set up the environment through recycled materials and conducted sessions to show the children how natural resources could be harnessed for the construction and operation of a farm.

Dr Maliki asked about the licensing requirements for kindergartens. To ensure a minimum standard in the quality of early childhood education, kindergartens have to meet criteria relating to the principals and teachers’ qualification, educational programme, and physical premises. Kindergartens that fail to meet the stipulated requirements will be de-registered. So far, one kindergarten has been de-registered. To help parents select a suitable kindergarten for their children, the profile of each kindergarten such as the staff qualifications, total enrolment and fees are provided on the MOE Pre-school Education website.

Over time, we want to see pre-school providers take greater ownership in monitoring their own performance and striving for greater excellence. MOE is in the process of developing a voluntary quality assurance and accreditation framework for kindergartens. I suppose that is good news for Mrs Josephine Teo. Those that meet specified standards can apply to be accredited as a mark of the kindergarten’s quality. The pilot-testing will start from the first half of 2009, and we hope to roll out the framework in 2011.

Since 2002, the government has provided annual recurrent grants to eligible non-profit kindergartens which are

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major providers of kindergarten education. MOE will be enhancing the recurrent funding further, from the current $17 million to $62.5 million a year in 4 years’ time.

In conclusion, MOE will continue to ensure that no one is denied access to quality education due to financial constraints. The enhanced Financial Assistance Schemes, complemented with the school-based financial assistance schemes, will provide some welcome relief to families in need.

Sir, education is our best investment for the future. Even in this economic downturn, MOE will continue to work closely with stakeholders to enhance our education system, so as to provide the best possible education to the next generation.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): I would like to thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the comprehensive reply. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned that there was going to be an organic Opportunity Fund managed by the principal. My concern and query is how autonomous would the management of the Opportunity Fund be. Is there any other fund organic to the principal where the principal can release monies on an expedited basis, especially if they come and see the Member of Parliament, given that time is always of the essence in these matters?

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: About 80% of the funds are already used up by the schools. This Opportunity Fund is left to the discretion of the principals and the schools to provide for various needs of the students. In fact, the Opportunity Fund is one example where MOE has listened to the ground and feedback from schools, and provided funds for things that were, at one time, probably luxuries, but now are already necessities for students. As an example, these funds are

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used to provide computers to needy students, as well as to provide supplementary payment for their trips on overseas programmes. Members know these things. When I was young, I did not even have a computer, I could survive. But today, these are quite important necessities. And this Opportunity Fund is the result of such feedback, and we are providing schools with such funds to provide for the needs of the students.

In addition, schools also use this Opportunity Fund for items like social emotional learning programmes, so that those who need special programmes to increase their self-esteem, for example, are also provided for.

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There are also other forms of funds that we mentioned - the School Advisory Committee Funds that can also be used by schools at their discretion and for their students.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Thank you, Mr Chairman.

Could I seek clarification on the topic of character development and civic education? Many parents have lamented that MOE does not pay enough emphasis on moral education and it shows up in the ranking schools. Could I have MOE's reply on that one? What is our present status on moral education? Is it the responsibility of civic education teachers? Could MOE tweak the present policy to emphasise the importance of moral education, and the responsibility of all educators to inculcate good moral values in class? And lastly, could MOE equip all educators to recognise and to maximise teachable moments at every opportune time in class to impart and to share values with students?

The Senior Minister of State for Education (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien): Sir, I

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thank the Member for raising this issue of moral education.

I think that she is definitely on the right track where she talked about the importance of developing students with the right values and character. They are so necessary to guide us in this world where there are lots of changes that are impacting us socially.

MOE takes a very serious view of moral education. In fact, if you look at MOE's website, the outcome of education that we look for - the number one item on that outcome - is actually on moral education, that we want to bring up our children to be morally upright. That is number one on our list. And I cannot emphasise more about the importance we place on it. But I must accept and I concede the point that it is not easy to measure the outcome of moral education.

Having said that, we would have in the schools ranking system, a framework to assess the process the schools are teaching. In other words, what are the schools doing to ensure that such values are being conveyed; what are the processes they take; what is the training that they will provide teachers; what are the programmes that were carried out to ensure that these values are conveyed to the children. So although we do not have a ranking of the results of the schools or the teachers in terms of moral education, in our school assessment system, this is an important part. The process in which schools undertake their education task is an important part in the schools assessment system.

In terms of civic education, I think that all teachers would know that it is not limited to the teacher who teaches civic and moral education. In fact, I think, the point that we have been trying to make in the last few hours in our speeches about how we want to balance the teaching of academic subjects with the non-academic

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parts - the values, the character building - is really a reflection of the thinking of MOE. That we want all teachers including those who are teaching PE, Music, Arts, Science, Mathematics, to find teachable moments. When you are bringing the children out for Learning Journey, you see behaviour that is not befitting of students, the teachers will have a responsibility to point it out to the children. We believe that those teachable moments are very important in correcting behaviour and teaching the children the right behaviour. And I think all teachers know that. In fact, this is one important part of the NIE training.

I spoke to the Director in NIE. He assured me that teachers, when they go into NIE for training, have been told time and again that it is not just content knowledge that they are teaching but they are bringing up the next generation. And I think, all teachers understand the heavy responsibility that has been placed on them.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): I thank Senior Minister of State (SMS) for her comprehensive responses yesterday on the use of IT and also on the education village.

I would like to ask Ministry to consider uploading lectures especially academic ones as well for all stakeholders, not just for teacher-resource sharing. In fact, Ivy League universities like Yale, Berkeley, and Stamford have already avail their lectures online through podcasts for sharing globally. I think we can try to model that - maybe do it at the primary and secondary schools' levels, where we are still upgrading teachers.

Secondly, I would like to clarify if SMS would consider also putting online - assessment papers and worksheets, so that parents and families do not have to pay for these at

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shopping centre lobbies where counters are set up to sell these papers. I think some of the parents would be very willing to pay for good quality and authentic examination papers.

On the education village, I thank SMS for the comprehensive reply on satellite partnerships examples that she has quoted. In fact, I am very, very appreciative of that because my schools are involved.

However, the Darlington Education Village is unlike any model that we have seen in Singapore. It is a federation of three schools - mainstream, primary, secondary and special schools. There is daily natural interaction all the time because of the way the schools are constructed. I urge Ministry to study this model in detail. I know it is easy to say to be bold, and as what Minister has said, we have of course to cautiously implement new models. But I urge the Ministry to study this model in detail. Perhaps pilot one or two education villages and let it morph to something that is more Singaporean, more Asian which will be even more powerful than the Darlington Education Village model.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: I think on the issue of repository of lecture notes on an electronic platform, MOE does have that practice although this is limited to the subject. For example, I know that our Chinese teachers share their teaching materials on an electronic platform. So, it is not done in the universal form that Ms Phua has asked, but on a subject basis, it is happening.

And also online assessment, while I sympathise with Ms Phua's point about parents probably spending a lot of money in buying assessment books, but I am actually not sure if putting online electronic assessments, would actually eliminate these books, because I think we are a society where parents naturally place a lot of emphasis on education and

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they want to provide the best. And I think there is no lack of creativity and ingenuity in our education sector to always provide what is best and what is better than the last version of assessment or enrichment or books that will help our children. So, while I agree and think that there should be some sharing of such materials, I am not sure that it will eliminate the symptoms that Ms Phua has talked about.

Having said that, I think we have to be careful how we want to make assessments readily available on a universal basis because I think as we have expounded on our principle on assessment yesterday, we would like assessment to be really relevant to what we have taught. In other words it has to be contextualised, it is not just putting any assessment on the website and make that available for everybody to have a go at it. We want our assessments to be effective in that they actually help teachers and students assess their progress. It has to be contextualised with what the teachers are teaching in class. So, I do not think it has this universal application that Ms Denise Phua has talked about.

On the education village that Ms Phua has mentioned, Darlington Village is familiar to us. I believe that some of our officers have been there. We will take that example as a reference for us, just as the same way we have looked at examples from other countries as well. We have to find a model, as she has rightly put, that works for us in Singapore, that fits our educational requirement as well as our stakeholders' expectations. We are piloting a few forms of partnership of satellite campuses. We would like to basically go through the process and look at what works and what does not work during the pilot phase; and I will make a decision later on, at an appropriate time.

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Mrs Josephine Teo: Sir, I would like to thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary (SPS) for sharing with us MOE's plan to introduce voluntary accreditation for Early Childhood Education centres.

On the matter of attracting the right people into the profession, I am glad to hear that MOE intends to facilitate recruitment. However, may I urge MOE to also look into raising the professional standing and the public perception of early childhood educators? In order for more of such educators to join the profession, they have to be seen as making a professional contribution.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The early children sector sees both a public and private sector participation.

MOE will do its part to ensure that the qualifications that we require will enable these future teachers to be trainable. We will also ensure that we will keep up with the pedagogy to give them sufficient in-house training so that they can keep up with the changes in the pedagogy of the pre-school sector.

On providing and uplifting the stature of the teachers, we got to work together with the sectors so that it is not just an effort that MOE should undertake alone, because there is contribution and value-add that these private sector and public sector communities can add.

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I have a clarification for the Minister. Yesterday, the Minister mentioned that there would be an increase in the number of intake and the courses being offered at the local polytechnics. I would like to know if the capacity of the existing polytechnics is adequate to absorb this new intake as well the number of new courses being offered.And following that, are there plans to build new polytechnics in the near future?

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The Senior Minister of State for Education (RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew): If I may reply to the second part. There are no plans to build anymore polytechnics beyond the existing five. The polytechnics today have drawn up plans to enhance the campuses, and when these are ready we will implement them.

Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta (Nominated Member): This is a point of clarification in regards to yesterday's progress report on the fourth university. I just want to clarify and find out whether any Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences subjects will be offered in the fourth university. And if not, perhaps the Minister can explain.

And another idea is that, would the students possibly be able to access similar subjects from other universities in case there are constraints of putting these subjects in the fourth university.

The Minister for Education (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Let me thank Prof Mehta for her points which were well made and are along the lines that we are thinking about how our tertiary sectors should evolve in. She is right.

In a small country like Singapore, for universities to actually act in silos whether it is NUS, NTU, SMU or the new university, does not really make sense. We are not competing with each other. Friendly competition is okay, but you are competing with institutions elsewhere with large endowments. I cannot remember what Harvard's endowment is, but it is in the billions. They would have lost 30 to 40% like everyone else who have got positions in equities but nonetheless, still huge amounts. And yes, I would like to see that crossing over where students, even faculty, can take courses in different campuses where one is stronger and the other, not. Prof. Mehta also made a point in cross-disciplinary

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exposure, so if you are in the pure Sciences or Engineering, what exposure do you have in the Humanities and vice versa?

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SMS Lui did elaborate on some of that. But the New University offers us a unique opportunity to design it from scratch where it is integrated, and the purpose is an educational one. And we had extended back that philosophy to our integrated programmes for our junior colleges and even secondary schools. This is what the Through-train concept is, where now for the"A" levels, you are required to take other subjects, eg, if you are in the Humanities, you take one which is in the Science and vice versa, so as to allow students to have better exposure.

The educational belief, and I think it is a well-founded one, is that if you have students who are exposed to this, they develop as better thinkers, better leaders, more compassionate, and more well-rounded in their views which is more consistent with what the 21st Century needs are. So I agree completely with her. I also know that she knows that there are implementation hurdles on the ground. We sometimes like to guard our own turf, our own students. Be that as it may, I think there are measures there that we can take to try and have a more integrated system.

The Chairman: We still have some time. Any more clarification? If not, Dr Neo.

Dr Lily Neo: Sir, I have been much enlightened on the detailed answers and explanation on the various MOE's policies. I would therefore like to thank Minister Ng Eng Hen, Senior Ministers of State RAdm Lui Tuck Yew and Grace Fu, and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Masagos Zulkifli and, of course, all their MOE staff behind the scene. On that

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note, Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $8,014,660,000 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $686,555,900 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

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