ALL-PARTY COMMITTEE REPORT ON CHINESE EDUCATION (Statement by the Minister for Education)

The Minister for Education (Mr Chew Swee Kee): Yes, Sir. I have only a short statement to make, Sir, and that is in regard to the All-Party Committee Report on Chinese Education.

As all Members know, the Report has been published as Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 9 of 1956. Hon. Members will remember that in May last year, a Committee was appointed with the consent of this Assembly to go into the question of Chinese education. This Committee, comprising Members of all political Parties in this Assembly, sat under my chairmanship on twenty occasions, not including the visits, of course, to the schools. I am glad to report to this Assembly today that the Report itself in its final form is ready and presented for the information of all hon. Members of this Assembly as well as the public.

Before I go any further, I would like to thank publicly, as I have done in the Report, those who took part in the deliberations, those who gave evidence and those who sent in memoranda. I wish also to thank personally our Secretary, Mr L. C. Goh, who was responsible for documentation of all the memoranda submitted to the Committee and other detailed information obtained from various sources.

The main recommendations in summarised form are found at pages 47 to 50 of the Report. It is a matter of gratification to know that the Report is an unanimous one and it is hoped that the House will give it the blessing that it deserves. It is possible that a Government White Paper on education policy, based on the Report, will be tabled before the House. As the Report touches on questions of grave importance and implications, full opportunity will be made available for Members to debate on the subject at a later date.