Assisting Students and Staff in Schools with Less Established Alumni Networks

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for Education regarding the Ministry’s plan to work with school alumni groups to benefit students and help ease the workload of teachers (a) whether there are and, if so, what are the compensating measures to assist students and teachers in schools with less active or established alumni networks; and (b) whether the Ministry has plans to narrow any disparity in community resources and alumni capacity between neighbourhood and established schools and, if so, what are these plans.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Schools work with alumni in different ways, depending on their needs. Some alumni serve on the School Advisory or Management Committee. Some mentor students in their Co-Curricular Activities and support various school programmes. Others share experiences or offer opportunities through the school’s education and career guidance programmes.

Schools work with many community partners, including alumni groups, Parent Support Groups, and other community partners. Some of our Primary schools have Parent Support Groups which support the daily running of the school and school programmes. MOE has also been strengthening partnerships with the community. For instance, one of the key initiatives of UPLIFT (Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce) is to strengthen school-community partnerships to enhance support for vulnerable students. The support is provided through befriending, mentoring or interest-based programmes. MOE actively matches relevant community resources with schools whose students would benefit most from these programmes.

MOE also links up schools with organisations that support the schools’ programmes, for example, in education and career guidance, Applied Learning and Learning for Life Programmes. We appreciate individuals and organisations coming forward to support our schools on a sustained basis and we welcome more to do so.