COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PROJECT

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PROJECT:

(Effectiveness of initiatives in developing students' character): 12.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the effectiveness of the Community Involvement Project initiatives in developing the character of students towards an inclusive Singapore; and (b) if he will consider implementing a special school within a mainstream school, to enable greater daily interaction between students with special needs and their mainstream peers.

The Minister of State for Education (Mr Gan Kim Yong) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, teaching our students to respect those who are different from them and to learn to work with them is an important part of our education. There is no single way in which we seek to do this. We need multiple approaches.

The Community Involvement Programme (CIP) is in fact one of these ways. Schools consciously create opportunities for their students to interact with people of different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and abilities. CIP encourages students to develop the habit of being socially responsible, and to understand that every Singaporean has an active role to play in the well-being of the country.

The effectiveness of CIP is difficult to measure in any direct way. However, surveys conducted with schools suggest that CIP has indeed made a difference to the students’ awareness of volunteerism and their sense of service to the community.

At the primary and secondary levels, students have been encouraged to initiate and organise their own CIP. For example, at Greenview Secondary, a Secondary 3 class collaborated with MINDS Towner Gardens School to organise team-building activities for their students. Schools like Raffles Girls Secondary and Bedok South Secondary also have long-term collaborations with Special Olympics Singapore and Very Special Arts’ Singapore respectively, to create opportunities for their students to interact.

At Raffles Junior College, students prepared a sports handbook for the disabled, conducted a tennis clinic for the hearing-impaired, and interacted with children from the APSN Tanglin School through sandwich-making sessions. The involvement gave the students a deeper and direct, personal understanding about people with special needs, their hopes, aspirations and concerns.

There are many other examples. Besides the CIP and the co-location of mainstream and SPED schools, MOE is also involving staff and students of the SPED schools in various events such as NE Shows, the MOE Excel Fest which showcase innovations in education, Singapore Youth Festival performances, and events at the Singapore Discovery Centre and the Singapore Science Centre. We will continue to involve SPED schools whenever meaningful and practicable to promote greater engagement amongst these students and their mainstream peers.

Ms Phua raised the specific idea of having a special school within a mainstream school for the purpose of increasing interaction. We do want to provide more opportunities for interaction, as I have just mentioned. On co-location, we are already doing it and will do more of it where it is feasible and educationally sound for the children with special needs. By locating SPED schools adjacent to mainstream schools, we eliminate physical barriers like roads and housing blocks between the schools, and encourage free flow of interaction and activities between these schools.

Currently, five SPED schools are already co-located with mainstream schools. Another five new purpose-built SPED schools will also be co-located with mainstream schools. These are either in the construction or planning stages.

MOE will continue to explore different models of educating children with special needs and ways of providing opportunities for them to interact with the rest of their peers.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Sir, I have two questions for the Minister of State. I would like to ask how effective a six-hour CIP programme will help to develop the character of our students and also to help promote a more inclusive society. To me, it is much akin to being a tourist going to visit a country and just going for holiday and really not understanding the country that he is visiting.

My second question is this: Currently, integration efforts between special schools which are primarily run by charity organisations and mainstream schools run by Government, they are ad hoc. These integration efforts are ad hoc and piecemeal and very much dependent on the kindness of the principals or the leaders of the schools.

Mr Speaker: Ms Phua, give time for the Minister to reply.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: My question is: Will the Ministry officially adopt and consider and support some of the more tested programmes, models like those started by Canossian Convent, for example, which is not just adjacent to each other but within each other, so that these models last beyond individuals and can be duplicated throughout the special education sector?

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Mr Speaker, with regard to the first question, I certainly would like to explain that many of these students actually did more than six hours of CIP. Ms Phua herself has experienced these voluntary services provided by students which go much beyond six hours. We hope that the 6-hour experience will open their eyes to the opportunities and the challenges of volunteerism. And through these six hours of experience, it could challenge them and enthuse them to continue in community service.

With regard to the second question, the MOE certainly would like to explore different models of integration between special schools and mainstream schools. I think some suggestions by the Member are possible models for us to consider. And we certainly hope that these models that are practicable and effective should last beyond their individual personalities.

Dr Lily Neo: Sir, may I ask the Minister of State how does he get the grassroots leaders to be involved in all these special schemes so that more students could be involved in our community?

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I think many of our school leaders within our mainstream schools, and within the special education schools, have very close working relations with advisers on the ground, and I would encourage advisers themselves to also take a pro-active role in encouraging their grassroots leaders to be actively involved in helping out in the special education sector. If we can work together collectively through the many-helping-hands approach, we will be more effective in reaching out to these children with special needs.