NON-CITIZEN STUDENTS

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NON-CITIZEN STUDENTS:

(Integration within schools and community): 10.

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim asked the Minister for Education what are the current initiatives to engage non-citizen students and integrate them within the schools and the community.

The Senior Minister of State for Education (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien) (for the Minister for Education): Sir, international students expose our local children to different cultures and add to the vibrancy of our schools. Efforts to integrate them within our schools and the community are important to help them cope well in their studies and have a positive experience here.

Our approach is to create an environment where both local and international students feel comfortable interacting with one another, and share common experiences. Our schools and institutions have orientation programmes to help our international students to get used to their new environment. We also create opportunities for them to engage with Singaporeans.

Schools make use of natural vehicles like school activities, co-curricular activities (CCA) and community involvement programmes (CIP) to promote interaction between local and international students. Schools are also given additional resources to mount activities which facilitate integration, including orientation programmes, learning journeys, cultural awareness and English enrichment classes. Through the school curriculum, international students learn about Singapore history and national issues through subjects like History and Social Studies. They also learn about our social diversity and the importance of racial and religious harmony though the celebration of festivals and events like International

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Friendship Day, Racial Harmony Day and National Day.

Integration efforts are continued in our polytechnics and universities, typically through the International Student Office that looks after the administrative, academic and welfare needs of international students. These include orientation programmes, buddy schemes, host family programmes and a variety of campus and off-campus activities. There is a good mix of local and international students in the halls of residence to facilitate interaction.

These initiatives and programmes help international students adjust to life in Singapore, form friendships with Singaporeans and feel a sense of belonging here. MOE will continue to monitor the integration of international students, and work with agencies like MCYS and PA to see how integration can be furthered beyond the school setting in the community. Finally, the integration of international students also requires all Singaporeans to play our part, by reaching out to them and making them feel welcomed in Singapore.

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I have two supplementary questions. Firstly, could the Senior Minister of State share with the House on any evaluation that has been done to assess the success of these initiatives or programmes highlighted by her earlier? Secondly, in particular, how have Singaporean students and Singaporeans generally responded to these programmes?

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: MOE evaluates the success of our integration programmes regularly and we are happy and satisfied with the results, but we are not resting on our laurels. We will continue to improve on the various programmes that we have mentioned. In fact, it is through this regular review process that we have improved on the

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number of initiatives, for example, English enrichment and orientation programmes that help the new international students to fit into our school system, are results of such review. Singaporeans generally are accepting international students well and, in fact, in some schools, you see them celebrate their festivities together. International Friendship Day, for example, is really a time when Singaporeans and their counterparts from another country will come together and celebrate their commonality as well as their differences.